


Dangerous Drugs

by Rhov



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Abduction, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Aphrodisiacs, Ball Gag, Beating, Biting, Blow Jobs, Bondage, Broken Bones, Come as Lube, Dirty Talk, Drugged Sex, Drugs, Explicit Sexual Content, Face-Fucking, Facials, Flashbacks, Fluff and Smut, Foot Jobs, From Sex to Love, Genital Torture, Gentle Sex, Hand Jobs, Handcuffs, Hot Springs & Onsen, Hotel Sex, Human Trafficking, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, Lap Sex, Love Confessions, M/M, Memory Loss, Mental Breakdown, Multiple Orgasms, Oral Sex, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Repressed Memories, Rimming, Rough Sex, Sexual Abuse, Slapping, Spanking, Switching, Teabagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-18
Updated: 2013-09-08
Packaged: 2017-12-15 09:10:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/847785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhov/pseuds/Rhov
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natsu gets ambushed, drugged, and beaten badly. When Gray finally rescues him, the dragon slayer is writhing in pain and a need for "release." Gray struggles between helping Natsu purely as a friend and the guilt that this horrific incident is bringing up more than a bond of nakama.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ambush and Aphrodisiacs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moonlessnight126](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlessnight126/gifts).



> _A collaboration with yasminemohamed91, known as Moonlessnight126 on YouTube. This one is a bit darker._
> 
> _**DEFINITIONS** : I use three made-up words in this chapter._  
>  _ **Mazer** \- First referenced in my Gratsu fic "Burning Bridges" as a weapon like a taser, but rather than just knocking the person out, it sucks away all of their magical power, leaving a person magic-deprived, unable to fight back. They are illegal in Fiore._  
>  _ **Deeziak** \- One of the "dangerous drugs" in this story. It makes a person aroused. The full effects are explained later. Taken from the word "aphrodisiac."_  
>  _ **Thesia** \- Another drug. It's a shot that numbs a person so they can't struggle. Taken from the word "anesthesia."_
> 
> [This story is now in French.](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9407010/1/A-dangerous-drugs)  
>  _Fairymangafan, tu es incroyable, ma chérie! Je vous remercie de tout cœur. Vous êtes génial! Santé!_

Natsu woke up feeling like crap. Not like he had been beaten up, but...dizzy. Confused. He felt just as disoriented as he normally did while on transportation, but with a more sour feel through his whole body. Was he drugged?

"He's coming to."

"Shoot him up with more."

"He probably can't move already."

"I'm not taking chances. Give him another dose."

There was a prick in his arm, and fire burned through his veins...a bad fire. A sick fire. He heard himself scream, but blackness swallowed him whole.

* * *

_Natsu slipped into a dream. Or was it a memory? A building. A mission? He recalled Erza speaking a warning._

_"Stay alert! The enemy might be close."_

_Slowly, details returned to Natsu's memory. Yes, it was a mission. Women were disappearing from five different villages. Lucy had remembered too well her encounter with vile men trying to kidnap women. She insisted they take the mission, and to hurry! They traced one suspected kidnapper to a warehouse, and after keeping watch for a whole day, Gray discovered the horrific truth. The warehouse was filled with people. Not just women, but they had captured some young boys, too. They overheard talk of a "shipment." It was Lucy who pieced the evidence together. It was as she feared.  
_

_Human trafficking!_

_These people were kidnapping young people and shipping them to foreign countries as_ _sex slaves_ _. They did not have much time before another group was sent off into a wretched life of prostitution in some brothel, or worse!_

* * *

"He's waking up again!"

"How is he able to fight off the serum?"

"We should kill him while we can."

"No! This is Salamander Natsu. If we sell him, he can fetch ten times more than the prettiest virgin girl. We only have to wait three more hours. After that foreign prick buys up all the slaves, keeping them unconscious will be his problem, not ours. Just drug him some more."

"Any more and we could kill him."

"Don't kill him! Use the numbing agent, that one the boys use on the girls they fuck before selling. You know, the one you don't want me to know about."

"The only way to counter that is with Deeziak. Should we really give him both?"

"Hell, why not? It might be fun to fuck him up before selling him."

Someone grabbed Natsu by the hair and yanked his head up. Numerous pills were shoved into his mouth.

"Swallow them, Fairy Dog."

Then his head was yanked backwards so hard, his neck popped. A bucket of water was poured into his mouth, and Natsu sputtered, feeling like he was drowning. He swallowed, and pills went sliding down his throat.

"Can you really give someone that many without killing them?"

"Do you have any clue how much shit you've pumped into the boy's veins already? You want him alive? You need him fucked up with Deeziak to counter the effects. Here, he spit out a few pills."

Something more was crammed into Natsu's mouth, and before he had a chance to spit them out again, the water was back, flooding him, gagged him, making him swallow or drown in this horrific torture.

"Good boy. All down. Okay, give him the Thesia."

There was another shot in the arm, and Natsu's body disappeared. He heard voices around him, but all was numb. His mind drifted in a different type of sleep, one of wakefulness but utter lack of _being_.

* * *

_Erza had led them to the warehouse. Suddenly, Natsu smelled something wrong. He had no time to react. He yanked Erza back so hard, she was flung into the wall behind him. She would kick his ass for that, but they could worry about that later. Then he screamed at Happy to fly away. As the smell got worse, Natsu yanked Lucy and Gray together, shouting, "Protect her with your life, droopy-eyed bastard!" Then, in desperation, he shoved both of them out the window. It was only two stories. Lucy would land on top of Gray, so she would be cushioned. Gray would survive, maybe a broken rib if Lucy landed on him badly, but the ice mage had gotten much worse in their usual brawls._

_A split second later, gas filled the room. He saw Happy zoom up to the ceiling, out of the way of the green vapors, and Erza covered her mouth as she ran out the door._

_They were safe._

_Good._

_Then all went black._

* * *

"Is he up?"

"Oh, he's up," someone chuckled evilly.

Natsu came into consciousness already screaming. Pain. Burning. This was worse than any fire.

Someone slapped his face, and he tasted blood in his mouth. "Shut the fuck up, Fairy Dog."

"It...burns!" Natsu shrieked. "What'd...you do...to me, ba-...-astards? _Gaaaaaaah!_ "

His body shuddered, twisted, and convulsed. He wished he could escape from his own skin, flee the pain, run away from the searing heat flooding his body, torturing him with indescribable agony. Someone kicked him in the stomach, shouting at him to stay still, but Natsu could not stop his body. If ever he had been curious as to how others felt to be consumed in his dragon flames, this was it. The kicks to his gut, the punches to his kidneys, none of that mattered.

Fire! Burning! He needed relief. He craved escape.

"Why can he still move?"

"Thesia starts on the extremities and works its way in. The Deeziak drug will just barely prevent Thesia from stopping his heart as well. In twenty minutes, he'll be too numb to feel himself take a shit."

"Well, I don't want him running away during that time. Break his ankle."

Natsu gasped and tried to pull away, but he could not even feel his feet when one of the thugs grabbed his leg and twisted his foot hard to the side. Natsu stared, wondering if that was really his foot. He felt...nothing. But he heard the snap of bones. His foot hung at a bad angle now.

"Not even a flinch. The Thesia is working just fine."

"It's a fun side effect of the Deeziak, though. Makes girls hot and wet inside. I've never actually used it on a man before."

Slowly, Natsu overcame the shock. His ankle was broken...probably...more than likely that really had been his foot. Something bound his arms behind his back, and no amount of straining could free him. He figured he could light his body aflame to escape, but when he did, he only felt sick.

"That mazer is working, too."

"Zaps the magic right out of anyone. Hellish side effects to an actual trained mage, though. He probably won't be back to full strength for a week, if ever."

"He'll be long out of our hands before the end of the day. Still, we've got three hours before the buyer arrives." One of the men grabbed Natsu by the hair and yanked him straight up off the bed. "I wanna fuck him up bad before then."

Natsu glared furiously at the scar-faced abductor, and suddenly he spit in the man's eye. The thug drew back in disgust, then slammed Natsu's head into the brick wall. His left ear began to ring loudly, and his vision blanked out for a moment. Then his body was thrown harshly to the ground, and a boot collided into his ribs, cracking at least two of them. Natsu coughed, and blood sputtered out of his mouth.

"Hey, if you beat him up too much, won't that diminish his worth?"

"We'll say he put up a fight. It'll let that foreign bastard know to cage him better. Hell, maybe we can charge more for damages."

Natsu stared up defiantly. "You bastards are toast! When my nakama come, they're gonna kick your asses so hard..."

"Shut up!" the ringleader yelled, and he kicked Natsu in the face. A tooth came loose, and Natsu tasted blood gushing from the gum. He spit out frothy red blood.

"He's squirming too much."

"Give the Deeziak another five minutes and the boy'll be begging to have all five of us fuck him at once."

"Why wait? Strip him!"

Natsu gasped. Were these people serious? Lucy had whispered in horror about the possible depravities these men might have put their captive women through, but...to men as well? Natsu wanted to back away, but his arms were not working right. He stared behind him. He saw his hands in cuffs that went up his wrists and lower arms, but everything from the elbows down was numbed.

"No," he whispered in a weak protest.

He couldn't use magic. He couldn't punch. He couldn't walk with his ankle twisted so grotesquely. Natsu rarely panicked in the middle of a fight, but he felt cold shivers as he realized just how powerless he had suddenly become. He shouted for the one person he knew could fight on par with him, the only person he could trust to be around these vile perverts and kick their asses.

"GRAY!"

"Ain't no one coming, boy," one of the men chortled sadistically.

Was it useless? How many women had screamed for help in this building while their team sat outside, patiently awaiting an opportunity to strike? How many had been raped while Fairy Tail bypassed the request flier because the money was bad? Just how many people had already been shipped off by these men?

It sickened Natsu, and it filled him with a sense of despair. After falling into the ambush, Erza would be more careful to reenter the warehouse. She might wait until the buyer showed up, to capture him in the act. If these men were right, that was three hours away.

Meanwhile, some huge man was pulling Natsu's belt loose. He squirmed against the thug, but a heavy hand punched into his gut, sending Natsu into coughing fits.

"Help!" Natsu screamed. "Gray, Erza, Lucy..."

"Can we shut him up?"

"Ball gag, right here."

"Good. I don't want him to bite his tongue. Make sure those restraints are secure."

Something was shoved into Natsu's mouth, and when he bit down, it was to hard rubber. He began to choke on his own saliva and blood as he thrashed on the bed.

Suddenly, something else spiked through the numbness. Natsu felt the burning sensation concentrating, all that fire moved inward and down. He knew this feeling!

For some wretched reason, he was getting aroused.

He choked, gagged, and shook his head. This couldn't be happening! Drugged into arousal. A sex drug? He remembered what the men said about a drug they used on the women they wanted to fuck.

Were they truly planning the same horror for him?

As his pants were torn from his body, his shirt was shredded, and even his scarf was pulled off his neck, Natsu felt how the air around him was suddenly cold against his feverish flesh. All thoughts began to change. When someone slapped his face, he moaned instead of yelled. Someone grabbed his cock and stroked it. Natsu shuddered with intense pleasure unlike anything he had ever known before. This was an unnatural pleasure, he knew that, yet...it felt so...good!

"Look at this size! Fuck, he's gonna make some sick rich bastard happy. I'd love to have that fuck my ass."

"Let me stroke him some." Another set of hands were on him, and Natsu shuddered that these hands were rougher, gripped him tighter, and stroked fast. "Damn, he's got one burning hot cock. Oh fuck, I'm really ready to jizz."

"You idiot, you can't last even two minutes with the girls, and you're worse with boys. Here, I'll hold his face. Let's make him eat it."

The ball gag was yanked out, but fingers pulled Natsu's lower jaw down. Before he could even yell, the man in front of him stroked himself fast and shot off onto Natsu's face. The odor flooded Natsu's nose, and some of the sticky cum went into his mouth. Then the ball was thrust in even harder.

"Swallow it down, Fairy Dog!"

Natsu swung his head back and forth, but the bitter liquid slipped down his throat. He coughed and gagged, but he had no other choice but to swallow.

The man who seemed to be the leader of the thugs yanked Natsu up by the hair again. Natsu yelled past the ball gag at the pain, but his body was wiggling in a different way now. He felt a flush in his cheeks and tears in his eyes.

"What's the matter, Fairy Dog? Want someone to _fill you up_?"

What finally tipped Natsu into utter terror was the fact that he honestly _did_ want that. He craved to be touched so desperately, his hips tried to thrust. It burned! It froze! It ached, and only touches could take away the pain.

The man grabbed Natsu's cock, stroking slowly, so slow that it was even more torturous.

"Does it hurt, boy? It's what you get for bringing your friends along to try to capture us. No one fucks with us, or we fuck them back...literally! Don't worry, we'll have those friends of yours in custody soon. You might even be sold to the same buyer, if you're lucky. That blonde in particular will fetch a good price. I bet she's even a virgin."

Natsu thrashed against the hand gripping his hair, not caring that he felt strands rip out. He tried to shout. He wanted to yell, "Lay a hand on Lucy and I'll kill you!" The gag muted the threatening words.

"Don't worry. I told the men not to touch that one. Virgins are worth their weight in gold. We'll probably just kill the dark-haired one and the cat, though. No need for them."

" _NO!_ " Natsu screamed, muffled but still trying to fight.

"You're a spunky one. We should calm you down first."

Natsu was dropped, and his ankle twisted grossly to the side. He fell naked to the cold ground. He was fully erect, his skin burned, and impulses surged through him, feelings he hated, yet he had utterly lost control. He tried to curl onto his side, wanting the cool stone floor to ease the fire in his groin.

The thug kicked him, knocking Natsu onto his back. He stared up defiantly. All his hatred filled his narrow eyes. With a scornful laugh, the man placed his boot on Natsu's penis, pressing down harder, slowly, more and more. With a sadistic grin, and reflexive flinches from the men around him, the thug crushed that drugged erection under his filthy boot.

Natsu roared in agony. No pain compared to this! He thought his testicles might actually burst from the pressure. Then the man twisted his boot a little, scraping against the engorged erection, scratching the inflamed skin until it bled. Natsu shrieked, wishing he could vanish from the pain.

"Do you need help with that, you puny Fairy Dog?"

"Gah!" Natsu sobbed through the gag. He clenched his fists trapped behind him as his face flushed with embarrassment.

How could it hurt so intensely, yet feel so wretchedly good?

The man released some of the pressure and just rubbed the boot up and down the hard length. Natsu's spine arched as his muscles began to shudder.

"Boss, he's really loving it!"

"Of course he is," the thug chuckled. "Hey, what are you doing jacking off?"

"I can't help it, boss. He's so fucking hot."

"It's the Deeziak. It changes not only the body, but the pheromones. Makes anyone around the drugged person horny, too."

"Damn dangerous drug! Fine, stroke off if ya gotta, but keep it to his face. I don't want your cum on me while I fuck his ass."

He released Natsu, and the dragon slayer curled to his side again as his whole body shuddered. Pain, pleasure, humiliation, hatred...it all burned deep inside him, but it was not enough to fight the drugged effects.

"Pull him back up. Fuck...gonna come!"

Someone grabbed Natsu's hair. He sobbed as he looked up just to see the head end of a penis, and suddenly white filled his vision. Something hot dripped down his face to his neck, slowly dripping to his chest.

_'What the hell am I supposed to do? Someone...anyone...please come. Gray...somebody free me.'_

"Put him back down! On his back."

Natsu was dropped, and he laid face up, feeling filthy and wretched. Then he heard the sound of a belt buckle. He gasped and looked up in horror as the man standing over him began to unzip his pants.

"Spread those legs, boys. He should still have just enough sensation to feel the pain as I fuck his ass raw."

Natsu looked at them, horrified as they got closer.

Was this really how his first time would be? Gang raped?

He closed his eyes, and silently he prayed that Gray and the others would find him before these evil men completely snapped his spirit.

**End of Chapter 1**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _For more about the dire issue of human trafficking in modern times, please look up Polaris Project...for a world without slavery!_ **[Polaris Project](http://polarisproject.org)**


	2. Rescue and Regretfulness

_Bang!_

"Go Aries!"

"Wool Smoke Screen! I'm sorry!"

"Gray, grab him!"

"Right, Erza. Keep the enemy off me."

Gray ran through the pink smoke created by Aries, punching anyone he did not recognize. Already, his fists were bloody from fighting just to get to this room. Surveillance from Lucy's Silver Key Spirit and spy expert Telescopium pinpointed Natsu's location to here. Although their mission was to rescue the captured girls, Fairy Tail always rescued their friends first.

The smoke screen was a good idea, but obviously Lucy had not reasoned that Gray had to actually _see_ Natsu in order to rescue him. He could not sniff him out like a dumb dragon slayer.

"Natsu?" he shouted, urgently looking back and forth through the smoke. "Answer me, Natsu. Dammit, I can't see."

He heard muffles, someone who was gagged, and he guessed that must be his teammate. He did not blame anyone for wanting to gag Natsu. He felt like doing just that every damn day. Gray headed toward the sound, freezing people, punching faces, blasting men away with ice, until finally he tripped over a body on the ground.

"Natsu?"

He turned back around and saw the dragon slayer bound, gagged, bruised, bleeding, naked, filthy, and to his horror, stiffly aroused. Not merely a bit erect, but tensely up, with blood on the shaft of his penis and semen dripping across his face and chest. Their eyes locked, and it was as if only the two of them existed in a world of pink smoke. In a split second, a thousand horrific possibilities filled Gray's mind. His lungs lost air as those teary, squinty, bloodshot eyes gazed up at him with intense relief.

"Oh...oh my God." Gray shuddered as he realized that, more than likely, the very worst he could imagine was precisely what happened. "Natsu..." That single whispered word was fraught with pity, compassion, dread, revulsion, and numbness as he found his mind unable to fathom something so horrific.

The initial relief faded, and Natsu looked away, too ashamed to be seen like this. Gray was so stunned, he could not move. Around them, in a mist of pink fluff, they heard Erza's sword clanging and the crack of Lucy's whip.

Erza yelled into the fray, "Gray, have you found him?"

Natsu's face swung over to Gray in horror. He tried to speak through the ball gag, but only grunts came out. However, the terror in his massive eyes spoke clearly enough.

_'Don't let the girls see me like this!'_

Gray nodded sternly in understanding. This went far beyond being merely humiliating. No man would want his friends to see him in such a depraved condition, but especially not women, not with the sexual residue still splattered on Natsu's beaten body. Gray had no plan, no clue how he was going to hide the evidence, but he had to act fast before the smoke cleared. He grabbed Natsu up into his arms. The dragon slayer flinched and screamed with pain in his ribs.

"Try to put up with it for a little while. I'll get you out and...and we'll figure something out." Gray rushed through the pink smoke screen. Even when he saw Lucy by the door, he kept running. "I have him. Make sure none of these bastards escape, then hurry on to rescue the others. I'll care for Natsu," he ordered, running fast so Lucy would not see Natsu naked and bloody.

She tried to shout after him. "How is he?"

"He can't walk," Gray replied, and he left it at that. The girls didn't need to know the rest.

He ran into a hallway, and although Gray's legs moved swiftly, his mind was too busy reeling with nightmarish dread to really pay attention to where he was going. This was beyond all the worst scenarios their team had thought up while planning this rescue. Well, the very worst, something they did not even dare mention, would have been that Natsu was already dead, but besides that...not one of them expected to find him in this condition.

Worst of all, Gray could not exactly ask Natsu directly what precisely happened to him. How could he even breach the subject? Joke about it? _So, did they rape you, or are you just happy to see me?_ Hell no! There was no way to ask without utterly humiliating Natsu.

"Shit!" Gray hissed through clenched teeth.

He could not mentally handle something this dire. How could any good friend react to the fact that a person they deeply cared for—even if Gray would never admit it—had been tortured and abused so horrifically? He wished the tears threatening his eyes would go away so he could see clearer. There were still enemies around, and he had to protect Natsu. He _had_ to! There was no way he was going to let anything worse trouble his rival and friend.

The dragon slayer made more grunting sounds, and Gray realized Natsu's face was drawn up in agony. Broken ribs, most likely. The swollen purple ankle was definitely a mess. Blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth, escaping the ball gag, a trickle came down his nose, and Gray realized even his ear was oozing blood, with marks across the whole side of his face, as if Natsu had been bashed into a wall. He had seen Natsu survive far worse, but this wasn't about the physical injuries. Gray feared for his mental state.

Just how much had Natsu endured before they arrived? How much torture? How much humiliation?

_'Please, don't let it be as bad as I think it is!'_

Gray suddenly heard shouts up ahead. More enemies were coming their direction. There was no way he could fight and hold Natsu at the same time. With that disfigured ankle, Natsu obviously could not walk. Gray searched around and saw an abandoned room with some crates and machinery covered in sheets, things probably used back when this warehouse did real work, not just imprison young people for human trafficking. He dashed in there and set Natsu carefully on the ground.

"Don't move," he ordered, although obviously the dragon slayer could not go anywhere with his body in such a mess.

Then he went back to the door and peeked out. The enemy was still down the hall, so he closed the door quietly and sealed it with ice. That would at least buy him a few minutes to figure out what to do about his teammate. He trusted Erza and Lucy to take care of the rest.

"Okay, we should be safe for a while."

He turned back around and saw Natsu curled up on the floor, breathing in erratic jolts and shivering occasionally. Seeing the dragon slayer fully now, without the smoke to haze over the details, brought up a whole new surge of disgust and fury in Gray. He covered his mouth, holding back cries of anger. Why had Natsu saved the rest of them only at the sacrifice of himself? Idiot! Now he was a mess...a bloody and filthy mess...and Gray had no clue what to do. He told Lucy he would care for Natsu. Bruises and cuts, he could tend, even a broken ankle he could splint, but this...

_'How the fucking hell am I supposed to care for this?'_

First things first! Gray froze the handcuffs so he could shatter them, freeing Natsu's hands. However, the hands did not move. Gray had to pull them around to the front. Both of Natsu's arms were limp and heavy.

' _Lack of circulation, numbness...his arms are probably asleep_ ,' Gray thought with cold logic.

Next, he untied the ball gag. Natsu coughed out blood that had collected in his mouth, and it splattered out in a red mist. Although he could breathe easier now, he still shivered. Gray pulled off his coat and wrapped it around the naked arms.

"It's okay now, Natsu." The words were empty, more a reassurance to himself. Natsu would be okay. He _had_ to be okay!

Gray yanked a sheet off one of the machines, a printing press of some sort, and came around to look at his face. Gently, careful of the bruises, Gray wiped the drying semen off. It was...sick! Beyond merely gross! Something this horrific, this debase, this _inhumane_ was beyond anything he could comprehend. He took a flask of water and dabbed it onto the sheet to clean the disgusting white fluid better. Natsu said nothing as he was washed. The silence was unnerving.

"You're gonna be fine, okay?"

He did not even look up at Gray. At least the shivers had subsided some. Once the cum and blood were cleaned away, Gray looked a little closer. The dragon slayer's eyes were wide, unblinking, staring ahead with a blankness to them that terrified Gray.

"Natsu?" he asked cautiously. "Oi! You're okay now. We're safe." He shook Natsu a little, but still he stared with empty eyes. "Hey." Gray shook harder, beginning to panic. "Hey!" he shouted. Terror settled in with an icy shiver. "My God, what did they do to you?"

Slowly, Natsu's eyes turned up to him. "G-Gray?" he shuddered, looking like he didn't completely recognize him. "Are they...g-gone?"

"Yeah," he whispered gently, torn up with dread. "Yeah, they're gone. You're safe now."

Natsu stared off again, his mind trapped by horrors. "C-Couldn't...s-s-stop..."

"Shh," Gray hushed, rubbing the limp arms. Natsu's bruised skin was burning even hotter than usual. "The men are gone. They...they won't hurt you." Gray felt his stomach heave, and acid burned the back of his throat as he realized what must have happened. "You're safe, okay? We're gonna get you home. You can take a nice long bath, maybe a break, a vacation." He realized that with that broken ankle, Natsu would be off from missions for a few weeks.

"Gray..." The name faded on his lips. Natsu suddenly hiccuped a sob. "They...they..."

Gray pulled the shivering body up into his arms and cradled Natsu. He never, in all his life, thought he would ever have to comfort the annoying flame-brain like this, but seeing Natsu mentally broken shattered all ideas of rivalries.

"You don't have to worry," Gray assured him, squeezing him tighter, hoping to crush away all the fears. "Those men will _pay_ for what they've done!"

Natsu looked up into that face. Gray's hands felt...so good...touching him...caressing his skin. He wanted those icy hands to touch him everywhere! Natsu shuddered, burning, freezing, overwhelmed with pleasure and pain and torment and euphoria.

"G-Gray. I c-...I can't...can't st-...-stop..."

"Shh...it's okay. You don't have to be afraid." As he looked down, Gray realized another large problem. "Umm...and you don't have to be aroused anymore."

Without any warning, Natsu screamed as if in horrific pain. Not thinking, Gray let him go suddenly. Natsu dropped to the ground and rolled aside, trying to wiggle away over the floor.

Natsu wailed, "I can't...can't stop it. It won't go away. It...it hurts! It hurts so bad!"

"What hurts? What's wrong? Natsu..." Gray flinched, looking at that beaten body. "Dammit...what more did those bastards do to you?"

Natsu sobbed, broken and humiliated. Gray came forward hesitantly and touched Natsu's thigh, since his arms were grotesquely bruised. Natsu shivered at the touch.

"St-stop..." Natsu whimpered as his lungs shook from the touch.

"Stop acting like a baby. I'm here to help you."

"Help...me?" Natsu looked up with teary, massive eyes. In a meek voice, he begged, "Help me, Gray."

"That's right," he said softly, forcing himself to smile despite the agony of seeing his teammate like this. "I'm gonna help."

Natsu flushed, looking happy...stupidly happy. Then he jolted and screamed, yanking away harshly. He rolled across the cold floor and thrashed in agony.

"Get away from me, Gray!"

"Idiot, stop this!"

"No...g-get away. Not safe."

"Not safe? Dammit, what did they do? Don't tell me you have a bomb in your head or something."

Natsu shook his head and writhed on the floor. "Can't...need..." His words would not come out properly. His eyes lowered to the massive cock. "Hurts...it hurts."

Gray looked down, too. Seeing another guy aroused, especially his teammate and rival, was tremendously awkward, yet Gray realized that such turgid erection with no stimulation was unnatural.

"Oh...oh damn," he realized, feeling like his heart just plummeted into his gut. "Did they drug you?"

Natsu felt utterly embarrassed and humiliated with Gray standing over him, eying his naked body in such a disgraceful state. He hid his face and choked out, "Don't look...b-bastard. It's...embarrassing!" Tears formed at the edge of his eyes, and he tried to fight the urges. His cock throbbed and burned as he panted heatedly.

Gray could hardly help but feel murderous fury rising in his whole body, and he began to seethe in a rage he had never felt before in his life. "Those...goddamn...bastards! I wanna march right back in there and kill every single one of them. For doing something like this to you...I'll _slaughter_ those motherfuckers!"

Natsu hiccuped a sob, feeling oddly happy to hear Gray being so protective over him. Then, quite suddenly, he stopped writhing and sobbing. He went unnaturally still, even his breathing stopped, and that worried Gray even more.

"Oi! What is it now?"

Natsu's eyes had blanked out again. "Water...water..." he mumbled.

"Do you need some water?" Gray began to reach for the flask.

"No! Don't...don't wanna swallow more. Don't wanna. Stop it. Can't swallow. Bad taste...I don't like it. Hurts. Boot...don't want it."

"Natsu, snap out of it," Gray shouted. Swallow? Then Gray remembered all the semen on his face. "Oh dear God..." He felt his stomach revolt and vomit shoot up. He covered his mouth as he swallowed back acid. Still, no matter how sick he felt just imagining it, he had to bring Natsu back around to the present moment. He did not want Natsu to remain trapped in the memory of that horror. "You're safe, okay? You're with me. Look at me, Natsu."

"Gray..." His eyes still stared straight ahead with an empty gaze. "I called for you. No one came. No one...came. No one..."

"Oh damn, Natsu!" Gray shivered, and he hugged the dragon slayer up into his arms, squeezing him protectively. "Oh my God." Tears came to his eyes. He looked at that face, but Natsu's eyes were blankly staring out, lost in a realm of never-ending terrors. "I'm so sorry, Natsu. Dammit...you saved all of us from the gas, and we didn't rush back to get you. Shit...how did this happen?" He pressed Natsu's face against his cheek and sobbed out a shudder of guilt. "I'm so sorry."

"Gray," Natsu muttered. "I called. I wanted you to come."

Gray whispered to him, "I came. I'm here. Stay with me, Natsu. Stay with me _here_. Don't go back to that room." He softly rocked Natsu's body like a parent reassuring a small child, yet he found tears running down his face. He had to be strong for Natsu's sake, but Gray felt like his heart had been crushed. "Shit!" he hissed quietly.

Natsu still stared blankly, but a smile came to his mouth. "You...came. For me. You came. Gray will come. Gray will stop them. No...don't touch me. Gray will kick your ass. Gray? Where are you?"

"I'm here, Natsu," Gray sobbed, burying his tears into the naked neck. "I'm here now. Come back to me!"

He shuddered as he held the dragon slayer in his arms. Gray gazed up to heaven. If there was a god out there, he prayed that Natsu would recover from this nightmare.

Natsu mumbled blankly. "Gray..."

"I'm here," he whispered, lost in misery. "Dammit... How do I bring you back?"

**End of Chapter 2**

* * *


	3. Humiliation and Horniness

Gray was unsure how long he and Natsu sat there. He no longer heard fighting outside. He hoped Erza and Lucy had moved on to rescue the abducted people. Although he should be helping them, he could not leave Natsu alone, not like this. Gray just held him, stroking his fingers mindlessly through the pink hair, hoping Natsu would come back on his own. His mind had been broken so utterly, and Gray felt like it was all his fault for not demanding that Erza should hurry. He understood her caution after nearly being ambushed, but...really, they should never have left Natsu in the hands of those vile men for so long! Now it was his duty to care for the dragon slayer...although Gray had no clue what to do.

"Oi, droopy-eyes."

Natsu's voice startled him, and he pulled back suddenly. Those narrow eyes were back to normal, squinting as they glared up at him.

"You don't have to cradle me like a princess, bastard."

Gray felt such intense relief, all he could do was laugh. He was back! And all on his own. Natsu was seriously one damn resilient man. "Are you better now?"

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Do I look better? I wish I could pass out again. Oh God, I hurt!" he moaned. "At least, I can't feel anything in my hands or past my knees. Hey, how does my ankle look?"

"Like you won't be walking for a month."

"Dammit," Natsu groaned, and he leaned back against Gray's chest. "This sucks," he mumbled. "I am so...damn...horny!"

Gray jolted at that. "You're _what_?" His voice cracked a little.

"I can't help it." He began to pant heatedly. "Something they gave me, some sort of drug, I can feel it burning inside, making me feel weird. It was the only way they could..." He cut off and looked troubled.

"Shh...you don't have to talk about it," Gray assured him, stroking his head consolingly.

"No, it's fine. Sorry about earlier. They just..." He hissed in pain and shifted his body a little. "They really did a number on me." His brow tensed up as his eyes flinched. "I wanted to get out of there, kick their asses, but I couldn't do anything. I've never felt that way before in my life. So...powerless! I hated it."

"I know," Gray whispered, petting his hair.

"Will you stop that!" Natsu yelled. "Seriously, I don't need you treating me like a fragile little girl. This is humiliating enough without you doing... _that_." Natsu groaned loudly. "I seriously wanna pass out. Hey Gray, can you punch me unconscious?"

"No!" he shouted in astonishment.

"Please? I'm giving you permission to hit me," he pointed out in a cranky tone. "I would've thought you'd love the opportunity."

"I'm not gonna hit someone who can't fight back."

Natsu growled and leaned back heavily onto Gray again. "This sucks. I'm burning up inside. It's too weird. I'm used to fire, but this...this is a bad feeling. And that drug...it's making my cock feel like it's on fire."

"What!"

"Shut up!" he snapped. "Plus what that asshole did to me... Dammit, it hurts so much!" Gray began to stroke his head again with tender concern. Natsu shot him a caustic glare. "Don't!" he warned threateningly. Gray pulled his hand back quickly.

Natsu looked down at his erection, then inspected his hands. They were numbed, but maybe...he just needed something. Anything! He tried to reach down, but the hands were dead, limp, and useless. Although he could feel something touch his cock, he could not get his hands to work.

_'Am I really thinking about masturbating here, in front of Gray? Damn, they really did mess up my head.'_

Natsu wanted the ground to swallow him up. If he was alone, he could probably figure something out, but with someone looking on, anything he might try was far too humiliating.

"Get out of here," he whispered through the pain.

"What are you talking about?" Gray sighed. "Stop being stubborn."

"Please, Gray. Leave me alone. I'll be..." He suddenly panted loudly and curled downward, trying to roll himself into a ball.

"Natsu!" Gray shouted in dread.

"Nnngh...mmmh...I'll be o-...okay. So...so just... _owww_...just leave me here. Go help the others."

"Idiot! You're obviously not okay. You can't walk, and I don't sense magic in you at all. I can't abandon you when you're like this."

"I'm not helpless," Natsu shouted angrily, yet he curled down tighter in pain while trying to hide his groin. "Shit, it's burning up!" He wanted Gray to leave before his body lost control. "Get out of here before I kick your ass!"

Gray looked at him with a reprimanding frown. "I can see how much you're suffering, and I want to..."

Natsu was in too much agony and arousal to care anymore. It was like the itch of a bug bite that he absolutely had to scratch, knowing it would only make the problem worse. He let out a cry of pain as he tried to massage his cock with those useless, numbed hands, rubbing frantically while still trying to hide himself. Gray's eyes widened, and his face blushed.

"H-Hey. What are you doing?" he asked with his throat completely dry.

"It needs to go down," Natsu shouted. "Can't...can't feel my hands. Numbed. But...goddammit," he screamed. When he realized his hands were useless, he yanked himself away from Gray. "Get out of here. Leave me alone. Just for a few minutes." He rolled over and began to hump himself against the floor. He direly needed some form of friction.

"Natsu?" Gray whispered in shock. "You...you're really that horny, huh?"

"Shut up, bastard! I'm serious, don't watch me. I can't...can't help it. Dammit, it hurts! It hurts...so much!"

Suddenly, Natsu shrieked, his back stiffened, his legs stretched out tensely, and he arched up off the floor wailing in pain. Gray eyed his whole body, all the bruising and cuts. Not even aware of what he was doing, he began to take off his shirt. He could not simply stand by and watch Natsu suffer any longer. He told Lucy he would take care of him. Now he realized how he could fulfill that promise.

The attack of pain subsided, and Natsu curled up on his side. The tears were back, steaming down his flushed cheeks, humiliating him. He wanted to escape, but he knew his mind would only trap him again. There was no way he wanted to return to that nightmarish vision, even if the present reality was equally as horrific.

Suddenly, Natsu felt something press up against his back, and an arm wrapped around him. He looked around in shock and saw Gray dropped to the ground, lying on his side, halfway curled around Natsu, his face stoic and filled with determination. Without warning, the ice mage grabbed that drugged, aroused erection. The dragon slayer gasped as that cold hand began to pump his shaft.

"What the hell?" he growled angrily as Gray stroked him. Natsu tried to push him away, but his hands were useless. "No! Don't touch me. D-don't you...dare..."

"Relax, Natsu. I know this feels weird, especially after what you've been through, but...I'm not gonna hurt you. Just let me ease your pain."

The comforting words sank deep into him "G-...-ray. Ah... _aaah_..." His whole body arched into the cold hands. "That's...good. No!" He gasped as the relief was not enough to forget what Gray was actually doing. "Bastard, d-don't..."

"Look, I'm sorry, but this is what you need," Gray snapped, focused on holding Natsu firmly enough without being too tight. "I'm only doing this to help you. I'm not like those men. You know that! You're too damn proud to ask for help, but this is what you actually need, right?"

Natsu felt the relief flowing over his body and sniffled. "Y-yeah...it feels...good, but..."

Gray shushed him gently. "I'm not going to hurt you, Natsu. I'm only curing you. You're safe here; it's just the two of us. Try to relax."

Natsu heard the wet noises as Gray stroked the dripped cock. The moist, sloppy sounds embarrassed him. Gray's cold hand tingled, easing the agonizing burning sensation. Those icy touches were exactly what he needed. He shuddered and moaned loudly.

"Gray..." he rasped out from a dry throat.

"Don't focus on me. Pretend it's...I dunno, Lisanna or Lucy or someone."

"It's still embarrassing," he grumbled petulantly.

"I'm only getting the drug out of you. If you got bit by a snake, I'd suck the poison out. This is the same, except I'm not sucking you."

Natsu glared back. "You better not!"

"I could!" Gray teased playfully.

Natsu suddenly hissed at the thought of it. Gray...sucking him...his cock in Gray's mouth...

"Is this bad?" Gray asked, worried about the pained expression. "Am I doing it too tight or too fast?"

"No! Feels...good. Shit, you're good at this. You must jack off every morning, pervert."

Gray felt a little smug to know he could pleasure someone else...even if it was only Natsu. He hoped this fixed the issue of the drugs. It made sense that getting it out of Natsu's system would cure the problem. Later, they could worry about how humiliating this was for both of them.

Natsu realized this position was too awkward. Gray's hand was in a weird angle, and although those fingers gave him relief, Natsu did not like having half his face visible. Slowly, mindful of his numbness, he shifted his body to lie on his chest. Gray stopped momentarily to watch what he was doing. Carefully, Natsu moved his arms as he tried to lift himself up to lean on his elbows. Pain struck everywhere, numbness impaired his movements, yet he struggled to rise his torso. Once up on his elbows and knees, Natsu's head dropped low to hide his flushed face.

With a mortified whisper, he said, "Don't stop...p-please."

Gray was surprised to see him begging and wanting more touches. "Natsu?"

"It'll be easier like this, right? Just...dammit, Gray. I need it. Can't...I can't do it on my own. Can't feel my hands." He sighed, surrendering his dignity for the moment. "Be a friend...and help me out, okay?"

Gray noticed this position gave him a better access, and it allowed Natsu to hide his face more. He could not imagine the blow to Natsu's pride, having to ask his rival for help in a matter like this.

"Alright," he nodded determinedly, and Gray positioned himself on top. "Close your eyes. Relax. Stay with me, though. Don't zone out again. That scared the hell out of me!"

He continued to stroke Natsu, slowly and gently, as the scorching cock dripped clear pre-cum to the ground. Natsu panted, eyes tightly closed, and lost himself to the pleasure and heat. Gray watched as those moans escaped Natsu's gaping mouth, and saliva dripped to the flushed lips.

' _How...erotic!'_

Gray gulped hard and shook his head to clear away that offending thought. He tried not to look so intensely, to keep focused on the goal of curing Natsu's drug-induced turgidity, yet the deep moans from the dragon slayer sent shivers up his spine. His free hand drifted up Natsu's back, feeling muscles and spine bones. The dragon slayer's skin was surprisingly smooth, the flesh so taut and fiery hot to the touch. Then Gray reached under Natsu and circled his tightened nipple.

Natsu gasped at his touches, and his head arched up as he moaned. "Gr-Gray...that's...ahhhhh!" Natsu stared ahead wide-eyed, then quickly dropped his head back down to the ground to try and hide his excitement. How... _how_ could that feel so amazing?

Gray asked softly, "Does it feel good, Natsu?"

"Sh-shut up!"

Natsu felt so ashamed to be touched like this. However, Gray honestly was not mocking him. He expected Natsu to feel ashamed, obviously, but he wanted to make him feel good.

"Natsu, I'm only helping you to release. I need to know what feels good for you, what works, what doesn't. Look, I'm _guessing_ here, okay?" His words came out snappishly, realizing just how inexperienced he was in pleasuring someone else.

"Oh." Natsu had not realized that Gray was new at this sort of thing. "Y-yeah, this...it's good. It feels... _really_ good."

"Okay, then we'll do this more."

"Oh God, yes! More," Natsu moaned loudly. Then he gasped in shock. "Crap, what did I just say?"

"Don't worry about it," Gray mumbled, but Natsu's shout had an instant effect on Gray's own body.

As he felt Gray tugging on his nipples and stroking his shaft, the burning desires in Natsu's body overwhelmed his frazzled mind. He shuddered, his spine arched, and he wanted... _needed_...more. So much more! He knew this was the drug's effect, but at that moment, he didn't care. His body wanted Gray to touch all over.

Gray breathed, "God, Natsu, you're dripping wet."

"Shut up! I'll beat... _oooooh_...crap out of you... _ah!_...if you say another word!" Suddenly, Natsu gasped and screamed.

"What?" Gray asked in fear. "Is it hurting?"

"Yes...no...G-Gray, I...feel so...w-weird. I'm losing it." His head buried down into his arms again. " _Gaah_...can't...I can't hold back... _nnnngh_...any...longer!"

"Let it go," Gray urged with a soft, understanding voice. "I won't watch. You need to work through this, so...let yourself go, Natsu."

His body tensed up, coiling tighter...painfully tighter. Natsu bit into the skin of his forearm as the intensity became unbearable. His hips rocked, thrusting more into Gray's hand. He panted heavily in time to those erratic thrusts, and Gray tweaked his nipple a little harder. Natsu felt his body losing control, and blinding whiteness overwhelmed his vision.

"Oh...oh God...GRAY!" he shrieked as he shot white streams out of his cock.

Gray at least had the decency to look away and close his eyes as Natsu shuddered with a powerfully intense orgasm. He bit his lip, holding back his own instinctive need to share this intense pleasure. Then he felt Natsu's muscles loosen, almost collapsing back down into the puddle of white fluid gushed out onto the floor. Gray moved Natsu aside from the mess and held him against his chest, protecting him, silently comforting him. He let Natsu rest his back against him so he could keep facing outward, keeping his shame to a minimum. Gray felt strangely disappointed when he thought it was over, but then he noticed Natsu was still stiff and throbbing...hard.

"Gray," Natsu sobbed. "It still hurts. It burns. Why is it not going down?"

"Shit. Did they give you more than one pill?"

Natsu whimpered and nodded his head in frustration. "They gave me a bunch of stuff. Pills, shots. I don't know what everything was. It hurts!" he bellowed in frustration. "Dammit, it hurts."

Gray held Natsu in his lap, his legs on either side of Natsu's hips, one arm wrapped around him in a hug while the other reached down to stroke the engorged arousal. "One more time, okay?"

Natsu's head rested backwards onto Gray's shoulder, already exhausted. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Gray said as he stroked Natsu. "It's not your fault. You saved us. If you hadn't reacted so quickly, those men would have gotten Lucy and Erza. Think of this as my way of saying thank you."

Natsu scoffed out a weary laugh. "Helluva way to show gratitude!"

Gray laughed softly, but he kept quiet so Natsu could escape into whatever fantasy helped him to overcome this. Looking over to his direct right, Gray saw puffs of steam coming from the opened mouth, sometimes with a flicker of fire burning deep within the dragon slayer's throat. Holding him so close, he felt the shivers and how Natsu's hips made small, instinctive thrusts into Gray's hand.

"Dammit, Natsu..."

His groin stiffened hard and squeezed against his pants. Natsu looked so...aroused and so...hot! Gray shook his head, not wanting to admit that to himself. How could he possibly feel that way, after what Natsu had been through already? He focused back on the task: to cure Natsu from this dangerous drug. Still, a part of Gray wanted to do more.

"Do you need me to do anything else, anything to help you come faster?"

"I...I dunno," Natsu mumbled.

"Well, what do you like?"

"I dunno," he whispered again, panting with his mouth hanging open. "I don't...I don't _do_ this sort of thing that often."

Gray groaned quietly, holding back the sound. He knew Natsu was a bit innocent, but that much! It was intensely arousing.

Natsu could not have turned a deeper shade of red. On any other occasion, he would have felt horrified with Gray's hands on him, hugging him, stroking him, so close and so intimate. However, the drug had a strong effect. Natsu couldn't push Gray away. His mind despised the fact that this was Gray Fullbuster of all people; however, the moist strokes enticed Natsu, making his body crave more...more... _more!_

"More!" he roared hungrily.

A surge of pleasure shuddering over Natsu's body, making him arch back into Gray, and his numbed hands pressed against the ice mage's thighs. In response to such an alluring sight, Gray's hips snap instinctively. His groin pushed hard against Natsu's back. The dragon slayer now felt the stiffness of Gray's arousal.

"Gray! Did they give you pills, too?"

"Shut up! You moaning like a bitch in heat is doing this to me."

"Me?" Natsu whispered in surprise. He glanced over his shoulder back to the ice mage. "Wait, you're getting hard because of _me_? What the hell!"

"I will beat you senseless if you say anything," Gray growled. "Just enjoy it and get over the problem."

Natsu tried not to think about what Gray said, yet he involuntarily pushed his body backward and softly bumped into Gray's stiffness. Natsu gasped at the feel. Although the sane part of his brain felt a jolt of horror, his out-of-control body began to rub frantically against the arousal, instinctively wanting it.

"Oh God, Natsu! D-don't!" His head snapped back as he moaned from that hot ass pressing harder and harder against his aching shaft.

Natsu tried to still himself. "C-can't...help it. Gray, I can't stop. I...I don't have...c-control. Fuck!" he yelled in frustration.

Suddenly, Gray planted soft kisses on Natsu's shoulder, nibbling up the side of his neck.

"Dammit...you...bastard! What are... _nnnngh_ -you...doing?"

Gray's lips went closer to Natsu's ear as he whispered hotly, "You're such a naughty boy, Natsu."

"What!" he screamed, and his voice cracked as that sultry phrase made his cock tense harder.

The arm hugging Natsu against him began to drift over the burning body. "I wanna touch you all over. You like it, too, don't you? Do you like when I touch your nipples?" He tweaked the nub, and Natsu trembled lustfully. "You're such a slut, Natsu."

"You damn per-...-verted...exhibitionist! _Nnngh!_ "

Gray spoke in a seductively moaning whisper, "I wanna touch you all over. I wanna caress every inch of your skin." His cold fingers slid all over the muscled abdomen for emphasis. "I wanna feel your body shuddering as I lick the sweat off of you." Gray slowly licked from Natsu's shoulder, up his neck, and around his ear. "So tasty!" The body he was holding jolted at the feel. "I wanna stroke your cock, suck you off in my mouth, and fuck you so hard..."

" _Yaaaaaaagh!_ "

With a shriek, Natsu came again, shuddering and digging his palms down into Gray's legs where they stretched around his own thighs like a cage to keep him under control while his body was lost to the evil effects of the drugs. Natsu's eyes were huge, shocked that the second time could be even more powerful than the first. Then weariness crashed onto him, and he collapsed back against Gray, worn out, shivering, far beyond humiliation.

"Huh!" Gray said in surprise. "Well, it seems talking dirty works. You're rather perverted, aren't you, squinty-eyes?"

Natsu glared up defiantly at him. "You did that on purpose!"

"It worked. Do you feel better?"

"Dunno," Natsu muttered. "Too tired."

Gray carefully laid him down, resting Natsu on his side and cuddling against him from behind. He sensed that Natsu liked to have Gray there, holding him as his body lost all control. Gray sighed softly to himself. It was over! Hopefully, this situation did not make things worse for Natsu's fragile mental state. That was the last thing Gray wanted. He would rather have Natsu hate him than to watch him slip back into madness.

"If you want," Gray offered, stroking back the pink hair, "we'll never speak of this again, okay? I'm not gonna embarrass you or blackmail you. You owe me, though."

Natsu chuckled so tiredly, only a puff of air shook out. "I thought this was your _thank you_."

"Be glad I'm not demanding a candlelit dinner."

"Bastard," Natsu laughed.

Gray hugged around him tighter. Hearing that laugh was such a relief after the scare earlier. Natsu was back! Gray felt so happy to have his teammate out of that dark, evil pit of nightmares, he could have cried. Not like he'd ever do that in front of the flame-brain! Still, the warmth of alleviation spread over Gray's body. He knew it would be really awkward between them for a while, but he suddenly felt a bit closer to the dragon slayer. He snuggled against Natsu's warm body and tried to relax, focusing on _not_ being so aroused.

Then, in the midst of this moment of calmness, Natsu's voice broke the silence.

"Dammit," he moaned in a breathy sigh of frustration and exhaustion. "Gray?"

"What?" he mumbled.

"It...it isn't over!"

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Drugs and Declarations

Gray's eyes went wide. _'It isn't...over?'_ Spooned against Natsu like this, he felt the dragon slayer's body start to shiver again. This was getting serious.

"How could you still be horny?"

"I don't know..." Natsu grumbled in humiliation.

"How much drugs did they give you?"

"I don't know!" Natsu shrieked as tears of frustration slipped out of his tightened eyes. Getting drugged up felt like he had been defeated. He lost! He didn't want to admit just how badly he lost.

Gray saw shame shading Natsu's face and understood perfectly. "You couldn't help it, Natsu. They could have grabbed any one of us. You just happened to save the rest of us like some damn foolish hero." He rubbed Natsu's back to show moral support without intimacy. "It's not your fault. They fought dirty, and they used illegal drugs. If they hadn't poisoned you with that gas, you would have kicked their butts with ease."

"Damn right, I would have!" he mumbled, keeping his head turned away in shame. Still, if he could confess his weakness to anyone, he knew at least Gray would still respect him. "As soon as I woke up, they stuck a needle in my arm. I don't know how many times they did that. Then when I kept waking up, they...they shoved a bunch of pills in my mouth and made me swallow. They stuck another needle in me, and that's when I went numb. I don't know what it all was."

"So it was a cocktail of different drugs, huh? Natsu, this is serious. If we don't even know what they gave you, I don't know if this will work. If you keep on like this, you'll dehydrate, let alone what it's doing to your blood pressure."

He snapped crankily, "What else can I do?"

Gray sat up and ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to think calmly. Going out to Erza and Lucy was a last resort. It would shock and horrify the girls, and Natsu would lose his dignity. Gray seriously considered wrapping Natsu in a bunch of the sheets covering the warehouse machinery and simply leaving the girls to rush him to a hospital, but he did not want to leave the girls behind. Plus, he would have to take the car they rented. No, splitting up the team was out of the question, not with such dangerous villains around. However, Gray honestly feared what might happen if Natsu got near a woman. How would the drug's reaction change him? Looking down, he saw Natsu trying to cover himself, but he could still see that the rigid member was not at all softened despite stroking him off twice. In fact, it looked worse.

"Wendy could probably heal this, but there's no way I'd let you get anywhere close to a woman in this condition. If you were to rape one of the girls, I'd have to kill you. But...damn!" Gray bit one of his knuckles as he listened to Natsu panting hard and watched him writhing around on the ground. "Bastard, you're seriously getting me aroused."

Natsu could not help but shriek from Gray's erotic words. "Yes! N-no! I mean _no_." Natsu crawled away, moving slowly, but not even three small wiggles away, he collapsed, face to the floor, his arms and legs useless under him. "I...I'll... _nnnngh_...kill you..."

"Idiot, I'm not gonna rape you, especially not when you're like this."

Gray looked away. He shouldn't have said anything! Natsu had been hurt by those men. Who knew what they did to him! However, seeing Natsu like this brought up a deeply primal need. The shivering, the moaning gasps, the seductive whimpers...it was like Natsu's whole body had been redesigned to entice uncontrollable lust.

"Is this part of the drug's effect?" he asked to himself. "Does is affect others, too?"

Natsu made a squeaking noise in his tense throat as his body twisted around. "Bad man said...pheromones change. Those men...they...they were out of control."

"Dammit. It makes your pheromones affect others? Then that means I'm getting drugged through you. That must be why I'm feeling horny as well."

Natsu looked up with sad eyes. "Is it only because of the drug?"

"Must be," Gray nodded. "It probably sets anyone nearby into a sexual frenzy."

Natsu looked down. He did not understand why that depressed him. "So," he mumbled, "it's affecting you. It's not me doing that to you. It's just the drug."

Gray shifted his body a little bit. "Well...I mean...maybe most of it...but...maybe you...just a little..."

Before Gray could answer, Natsu gasped as his whole body pulsed violently with the need to be eased again. "Arrgh! Hurts, hurts, hurts! Oww! Dammit, Gray," he mumbled, keeping his head down in his arms. "Shut up and touch me already."

Gray hesitated for a moment. He shouldn't...he really shouldn't! Yet he crawled over. "Are you sure about that?"

Natsu nodded quickly and lifted his ass up, resting on his knees. "Maybe...once more. Maybe that will make this go away. I mean, if three times doesn't do it, what will?"

Gray nodded and grabbed the cock hanging down under Natsu's half-collapsed body. He tried to keep his passions out of it. Just rub him off, get it over with, don't think about it...don't let the drug take over his mind. Gray tried to keep his body under control. He repeated to himself over and over again, he was just trying to help Natsu to release for his own sake, to work off the drugs. However, instinctive desire pounded and pulsed through his body. Natsu's squirming, sliding his soft butt cheeks over Gray's groin, quickly began to drive him insane.

"Dammit, Natsu. I told you not to do that."

"I can't stop, okay!" he yelled in anger. "Do you think I wanna be like this?"

"Well, stop rubbing your ass up against me. I'm losing it. I seriously wanna fuck you."

Natsu's eyes shot open in horror. "You wanna _what_?" His voice cracked in shock. With Gray's groin pressed up dangerously behind him, it sent shivers down his spine.

Gray stroked Natsu faster and harder as desire took over him. He rubbed his own groin up against Natsu's ass, easing the ache.

"Gray!"

"Dammit, I really _am_ drugged. It's like my body has a mind of its own, and it's craving you."

Natsu trembled at the sultry overtones in Gray's voice. He had just wanted his touches, but this! His body responded to the hardness pushing against his inner thigh. Damn...he wanted it! Natsu's whole body felt like it was doused in acid, slowly and agonizingly eating away at him, and the only cure was Gray's cock entering him.

"No..." he moaned, trying to shake the idea out of his head. Instead of pushing Gray away, Natsu moaned loudly. "Nnnnnngghh! God, yessss! Gray... _mmnnh_ , no, d-don't..." He pushed harder against him, rubbing that lump in Gray's pants and shuddering at the feel of how large it already was. "So...good," he whispered.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Gray snapped in irritation. He wanted Natsu, and he wanted him right now! "Hey, I'm trying to hold back, so don't say _no_ while thrusting against me and moaning _yes_."

"Can't...help it," he huffed. "Don't want it, but...but... _need_ it. Oh God, I need it!" Every nerve in his body was screaming for that cock to thrust into him. He had never desired something so desperately in his life.

Gray was thoughtful about the situation. "Need it, but you don't want it, huh?" He frowned at the situation they were in. "Did they happen to say the name of this drug?"

Natsu nodded stiffly. "Deeziak, I think."

"Oh...oh God, no." Gray pulled away, covered his mouth, and crawled backward.

"Hey, don't stop touching me!"

"Oh crap...you idiot, you should have said something."

"W-why?"

"That's one of the worst rape drugs in the world. It doesn't just affect the drugged person, but everyone around them. Shit!" he growled in frustration, pulling at his hair as he realized he had put himself into a real problem. "That's why I'm getting hard. You said it messes with pheromones. Dammit, I should have realized it. Deeziak works in a pair. The drugged person can't stop until the one affected...until...until..." His voice faded away, and he looked down at Natsu with pity.

"Until what?" Natsu shouted.

Gray swallowed hard, not wanting to say more, but he knew he had to tell Natsu the damning truth. "Until both give in to the full effects."

"Full effects?" Natsu's eyes widened and watered with misery. "Then...I have to...to have...s-s-sex? With you?"

"It looks that way," Gray said reluctantly. "I mean, rubbing you off twice wasn't enough."

"I don't wanna!"

"Look, Natsu," Gray said sternly. "I don't think it's a matter of what you or I want anymore. It's what you need. Your body gives off pheromones that change my body chemistry. It makes my body produce the antidote, but the cure is..." He swallowed hard, wishing he did not know the details. "It's...in my...my fluid."

"In your what?"

"You know what I mean!" Gray yelled in frustration, blushing heavily. "It makes the other person's sexual fluid produce the antidote."

"What the hell sort of messed up drug makes the cure in a person's cum?" He suddenly curled down, and Natsu screamed. "Don't wanna. Don't wanna! No more."

That insane tone was creeping back up. More than anything, Gray did not want Natsu to slip back into the nightmare of whatever happened to him. The fury at what might have happened to Natsu in that room of torture threatened to overwhelm Gray. He crawled closer to Natsu, began to reach out to him, but Natsu slapped the hand away hard.

"Get away! No more! Don't touch me!" he screamed insanely.

"Natsu, it's me. I won't hurt you like they did," he promised.

"No...dammit...it's burning! Need it...no! Don't get near me. I'll...I'll kill you all."

Gray growled in frustration. Something like this would have been horrendous enough without Natsu's mental state on the brink of snapping. His hand pulled at his black hair more. "Look, I'm not going to be a fucking _rapist_. Especially not after what you've been through. I'm not against it, but if you don't want it, I won't do it. Do you hear me, Natsu? Hey!" He grabbed Natsu's arms and forcefully uncovered his face, glaring down at the teary eyes. "I said I won't do it if you don't want it. Do you understand?"

Natsu looked up in confusion. "You...won't?"

"Of course not," he said tenderly, stroking his pink hair. "We're nakama."

Tears slipped down in relief. "Gray..." he sighed.

"You're a flame-brained idiot, but I'm not going to hurt you like that. However, I honestly don't think there's any other way besides finding you a doctor, and you'll be in agony until we find one. If we keep doing it this way, you're gonna keep coming until you die of dehydration or a heart attack, and _I don't want that!_ " he shouted. "Seeing you in pain...this is killing me! I wanna help, but I'm not going to force you."

Natsu wanted to fist up his hands and punch something in frustration, but he still could only faintly feel his body. "Can't...feel much. It's getting worse. More numb."

"Damn. That's a big problem," Gray realized. "If you get too numb, you won't be able to hold yourself up. This is a horrible combination. On women, it'd be the perfect rape drug, but on men..." Gray shook his head. "Look, we can..." He broke off again, mortified by the whole situation. "We can wait until you go completely numb. You won't feel what I do, we can blindfold you so you don't have to look, and...and we can pretend it never happened."

"No," Natsu whispered, quivering in fear as he realized what they had to do. "I...I don't want it that way, and I don't want to wait long enough to find a doctor. It hurts too much, and we'd have to leave Erza and Lucy here. I'm not doing that. I refuse to put them in more danger. We'll do it now, here."

"Are you sure? It'll hurt."

"It's fine, really. If I feel it, maybe I can work it out of my system. They...they made me swallow a lot of pills. Not just two or three. A lot!" he emphasized. "I'm worried that one shot from you won't be enough. If I work it out first, maybe that'll help. You...you'll need to be rough." He looked up uncertainly to Gray. It really was asking way too much.

Gray nodded to himself. Gentleness would not work in Natsu's half-numbed condition. "Rough, fast...no emotions attached. Right?"

Natsu gulped and suddenly burst into tears as he realized he had a friend who would go even this far for him.

"Hey," Gray said tenderly, touching Natsu's cheek and feeling the heat of the drug in his bloodstream. "Don't cry. Oh shit, Natsu." He grabbed the dragon slayer up and crushed him against his chest, rubbing his back and stroking his hair as Natsu trembled uncontrollably with emotions. "Damn, what did they do to you? And what the hell am I about to do to you?"

Natsu looked up with desperation. "Help me, Gray. Cure me."

The Ice-Make mage hugged him tighter, squeezing him protectively. Gray felt awkward doing it, but he realized that this must be the worst day of Natsu's life. He had been captured, drugged, beaten harshly, tortured, and who knew what else! Gray just wanted Natsu to get better, but he dreaded what horror might have happened in that dark room. Now, Natsu had to endure _this_. Gray prayed their friendship was not already ruined. He held the sobbing teen and stroked him in comfort.

"It'll be okay. I'm gonna make the pain go away, that's all. I know those men probably hurt you," he whispered, shuddering with fury at the thought, "but I won't. I swear."

"I know," Natsu sobbed. "I...I trust you, Gray."

That surprised the Ice-Make mage. Trust? He didn't think Natsu even liked him, let alone trusted him, and especially not with something as intimate as this.

Natsu's voice was a little firmer now. "Let's do this before the girls find us."

Gray firmed up his resolve. "Right. Can you still be on your hands and knees?"

"I can't feel my elbows anymore, but I think I can still keep myself up."

Gray had to help him just to move around, setting Natsu onto the floor and pulling his arms into place. "Open your mouth. I'll at least prep you so it doesn't hurt."

Natsu looked confused, then shocked when Gray forced two fingers inside that fiery mouth, all the while stroking him relentlessly. Natsu whined at the sudden intrusion but licked them instinctively. When Gray removed the fingers, Natsu cursed.

"Bastard. Your fingers are cold."

Gray was focused now. He rubbed around the tiny entrance, trying to relax the muscles. "I'm putting it in." He inserted one finger inside, just up to the second knuckle. He expected Natsu to yell in pain, but instead he thrust back harder on Gray's hand, forcing the whole finger inside him.

"Ahhhhh! Mmmmh... More, Gray. I only barely feel it, but...but it...it's good."

Gray hissed at the slutty moans and how Natsu's ass seemed like it wanted to swallow up his whole hand. He pulled back, and immediately he inserted a second finger.

"Gaaah! Yes!" the dragon slayer howled.

"God, Natsu," Gray hissed, feeling the heat within that writhing body. He wanted inside that body...so much!

Natsu tried to hold back his moaning, yet he panted hotly. Gray scissored inside, widening the area as he thrust his fingers in and out. The pleasure was too much. Natsu's whole body jolted up again, and he came for a third time.

Gray's eyes widened to see that he had climaxed so suddenly. An inner part of him began a long string of cursing. Just as he was getting aroused to the idea of pounding into Natsu's ass...! Yet as he held still, Gray felt Natsu's sphincter still tightening on him, quivering with need, urging him to do more. He looked down and saw that Natsu was still erect. No wonder the drug was illegal!

They were already halfway there, and quite honestly, all this was too much for Gray. He knew it would cause a lot of uneasiness and awkwardness later, but there was no turning back now.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," he said softly as Natsu tried to catch his breath. "It's pretty obvious now, this really is Deeziak, and there's only one cure. I'm sorry it has to be this way."

"Just get it over with," Natsu panted wearily.

Gray looked around. "No lube. Well..." He saw the mess under Natsu's body. He soaked his hand in the semen and rubbed it all over his cock. "That'll have to do." The thought of Natsu's seed slathered over his dick was so erotic, Gray hissed a little. "I won't hold back, Natsu. I'll fuck you hard 'til I wear you out!"

Silently, Natsu nodded. Gray steeled himself. It would be the same as before, no feelings attached, just curing Natsu of this drug. He had the antidote, right there in his body. He just had to _inject_ it.

"Think of it like a doctor's shot."

"You realize," Natsu mumbled into his arms, "that's idiotic. If a doctor wanted to shoot me like this, I'd kick his ass and seek a second opinion. But I trust you. Only you, Gray. I wouldn't let anyone else do this, so...so let's just do it."

He aligned himself and warned, "It's going to hurt."

"Coming from you? Your dick ain't big enough!"

Glaring at that challenging tone, Gray plunged all of his length inside Natsu in one massive thrust. Natsu's voice cracked at the sudden intrusion, and his ass squeezed tensely around Gray. In return, Gray hissed at the heat and the soft walls pushing tightly around him. Too fast! Way too fast! It was so tight, it hurt. So much for punishing Natsu for being impudent! They both groaned at the pain.

"Wait...wait...just...wait," Natsu gasped. After a minute of panting, his body finally relaxed. "You bastard, what are you trying to do, rip me apart?"

"You said you wanted it rough."

"Yeah, but it's..."

"I'll do it rough."

Gray pulled out, then thrust in hard. Natsu howled, "God, yes!"

Gray ignored the moans, grunts, and curses as he pounded in harder. The rhythm he started was relentless, and he was not about to slow down. Meanwhile, Natsu's mind was beyond rationalization. He felt a drastic change in how the drug was affecting him now. He heard his voice as if he was a bystander watching a porno flick. His body and mind were no longer under his control. Even his thoughts were not his own.

"G-Gray... _ahhn_...more...feels...so...g-good. Fuck me harder!"

Gray had not expect him to react like that, and he was shocked to hear those shuddering words. He never imagined Natsu would feel so good inside, nor that the dragon slayer's moans could drive him so crazy. He sank deeper into his own desires, and Gray felt his control slipping. He needed more! He grabbed a tight hold of Natsu's hips and plunged in harder and deeper. Their bodies moved rhythmically with every thrust, pounding hard as Gray's body crashed into Natsu's.

Natsu could not even utter coherent words, only moans and grunts, huffing steam out of his mouth as saliva dripped down. "G-...Gray. Unf...ah...arghhhh!"

"Damn, you're sexy!"

Natsu's face cringed. Was Gray only saying that as dirty talk again, or did he really mean it? For some reason that Natsu didn't understand, he wanted Gray to think he really was sexy. He moaned just a little louder, and he tried to thrust back into Gray's hips.

"Sheesh, you're devouring me!" Gray hissed.

"Harder, Gray!" he yelled in desperation.

"I can't...well, I suppose..." Gray had never tried this before, but he had heard Loke talk about it. He looked down at his hand, then at Natsu's muscular butt cheeks. Determined, he pulled his hand back and released it, smacking Natsu's ass.

Natsu cried out, and his eyes widened. _'What...the...hell...!'_

"Are you okay?" Gray asked with a worried expression. He feared that physical hitting would either trigger some bad memory in Natsu, or he might simply not like it. Still, it was the only way he could make this feel more intense.

For Natsu, the weirdest part was that it felt erotically good. "More!" he yelled, hardly understanding how getting hit by Gray could possibly feel this wonderful.

With gritted teeth firm with determination, Gray pulled his hand back again and spanked him with a resounded crack of flesh against flesh. Natsu's whole body reacted to it, and Gray felt him tense up around his cock. He spanked again, this time with the other hand on the other butt cheek. Natsu whimpered and moaned with intense pleasure.

Suddenly, Natsu's arms gave out, and he fell hard to the floor, hitting his chin. Gray pulled out quickly, flipped Natsu onto his back, and thrust back in forcefully, unwilling to stop long enough to help him get back into the position where he could hide his face. Natsu's spine arched at the re-entrance. Gray saw Natsu's face flinching, eyes tightly closed, mouth wide open, and his face tainted red with flush.

Despite himself, Gray's heart pounded faster. He was so...so...erotic! The sweat in the pink hair, those tearful squinted eyes, the way his sharp canines stuck out a little as he gritted his teeth...

And that was when the fact sank into him.

_'I'm fucking Natsu!'_

He had not realized that having Natsu turned away, facing outward this whole time, had also put a barrier between the person and the physical action. It was easy to ignore who he was touching...precisely _who_ this man under him was. Now, staring right down into the face of his teammate and rival, Gray shivered in horror. The shock of the reality was too jolting. Gray's head dropped as his whole body began to shake.

_'What the hell am I doing? After what Natsu's been through...how...how I can do this to him? How can I possibly think I'm enjoying it? I'm the worst!'_

He pulled out so quickly, Natsu cried out in shock. Then Gray collapsed onto Natsu as tears began to form behind his eyelids. Gray rested his head on Natsu's taut chest to hide the anguish in his face.

"Gray! Gray, don't stop, dammit. It still burns."

"I can't..." he whispered, trembling with guilty feelings.

"Please, Gray!"

"No! I'm practically raping you," Gray screamed in anger.

"What the hell! I'm the one begging you here."

"You're drugged, so of course you think you like it, but you even said: you need it, but you don't want it. Dammit!" Gray sneered, barely holding back tears. "That's rape. I don't want...I _can't_ do that to you."

"Please, Gray!" Natsu shrieked, trying to thrust his hips upward.

Gray shook his head stubbornly. "Tomorrow you're going to hate me."

"So what if I do?"

Gray began to yell, "I don't..." but he froze.

_'I don't...what? We're rivals. There have been plenty of times when I've done stuff that made Natsu pissed as hell at me, and way more times than I can count when he made me hate his guts. Why is it different now? Why...why is it...?'_

"I...I don't want you to hate me," Gray muttered.

"Sheesh..." Natsu breathed hotly for a few moments as he tried to think past the drugs. "I'm not gonna hate you, okay? Look, I...I...I need it, yes, but...but if anyone has to do this, I want _you_. I want it to be you to do this with me, no one else. I want you to fuck me...so hard that I can't breathe, so much that it cures my problems. I don't want you to hold back or think you have to be gentle with me, because...if it's you, I can take it. I'll take your worst, because I know you won't hurt me, not...not like those men. So, p-please!" he begged, his voice lowering in tone. "Please, Gray. I need you. I..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I want you."

Gray looked like he was teetering on actually believing that. "You...want me?"

Natsu gave him a fast nod with blushing cheeks.

"Like...as in you just want it to be me because it's already so awkward between us, we might as well ruin everything, or you want me because...because..." He could not even say the words.

"Because you're my best friend, Gray...and my best rival. You're the only man I'd want to do this with. And...and...maybe more reasons," he mumbled, blushing at the last part.

More reason? Gray realized he was holding his breath now. "More? More...how?"

Natsu looked away with burning cheeks and a petulant frown. "I don't know, just...more! More is more, and...and maybe it's more." It made no sense, but Natsu didn't care. The ice bastard was asking stupid questions again, so who cared if his answers were stupid, too.

"More than just because we're friends?"

"Yeah, more than...than friends." As soon as Natsu said it, his eyes widened, as if he was just now starting to understand what he was feeling. Then he looked scared for a moment and glanced away quickly. "That's too weird, isn't it?" he whispered.

A smile flitted over Gray's face. "No, not too weird." He leaned over and looked solidly down into Natsu's face. The dragon slayer gazed up at him with huge, amazed eyes. "Not weird at all." Gray leaned over and finally, hesitating just a moment, he gave Natsu a kiss.

That made the dragon slayer's eyes flutter closed in heavenly bliss. However, the kiss was far too brief for his liking, and Gray leaned up again with a tender yet serious gaze.

"If that's the case, then I'm not going to fuck you..."

"PLEASE!" Natsu shrieked in desperation.

Gray touched his cheek and smiled down at him. "I'm going to make love to you...properly."

Natsu gulped hard and felt his cheeks go red. "Can it still be rough? I...kinda like it that way."

Gray laughed and rubbed his nose against Natsu's. "Definitely."

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Pretending and Payoff

Gray leaned over and softly kissed Natsu. The dragon slayer was eager to get back to what they were doing earlier, but Gray only kissed him, his lips softly sucking on the fiery mouth, coaxing Natsu into returning the kisses. His tongue licked around the feverish, chapped lips, stroking moistly over that steamy mouth. Natsu gave a soft gasp as he felt that Gray's tongue, unlike the rest of his body, was quite hot. He opened his mouth, hesitant about this sort of kiss, something he had never done before. He tasted that tongue and his jaw trembled, overwhelmed.

Then suddenly, Natsu turned his head away. "N-...no, you shouldn't." He feared what his mouth might taste like after what he had been forced to do.

"It's okay," Gray whispered gently, stroking Natsu's face as he saw the lack of confidence. "I'm gonna clean up what they did to you." He licked one of the bruises on Natsu's jaw where he had been kicked in the face, then licked the ear that still had blood on it from when Natsu was smashed into the wall. "I'll clean away every touch, every pain, every bit of filth. I'll make you pure again, Natsu."

The dragon slayer whimpered, and a tear slipped out. He felt so filthy, yet Gray's cold touches froze that disgusting sensation, and the ice washed it all away. When Gray licked Natsu's lips again, this time he hesitantly opened up to him. He let Gray plunge into his mouth, and that vileness left him. He tasted only the cool wintermint of the Ice-Make mage. He let that flavor overwhelm him, freshening his mouth, purging the filth, purifying his body to be white as snow.

Gray leaned up, and a string of saliva connected their tongues for a moment before thinning out to nothing. Gray gazed down and saw Natsu huffing under him, cheeks flushed, lips red from the hard kisses.

"Better?" he asked breathlessly.

Natsu nodded with a thankful smile.

Gray leaned over again, kissed his cheek, then nibbled along his jaw up to his earlobe. He sucked the ear, tugging softly, then laid a kiss just under the ear at the neck. Natsu jolted with shock.

"Found another spot," Gray teased, licking that area and feeling the writhing body under him. "I want to find every spot that makes you tremble, every part of your body that makes you shiver with pleasure. I want you to feel nothing but the most intense pleasure."

Those words burned and caressed at the same time. Still, the slow kisses and lack of bodily contact were an agonizing tease. "Gray, can...can we get on with it?"

Gray's hands drifted over Natsu's chest and up to his neck, raking his fingers over the warm skin. "I said I'd do this properly."

"Yeah, I know that, but...but...I need it," Natsu whined, squirming under those hands and lips.

Gray still teased him with caresses. "Need, or want?"

Natsu gulped hard. "B-both," he whispered.

Gray raised up and saw the cute blush on the dragon slayer's face. "I usually prefer to take my time."

"Usually?" Natsu's face turned aside with a tense expression. "Have you done this a lot?"

"I wouldn't say _a lot_."

"With men also?"

Gray hesitated a little too long. Natsu looked angry and jealous.

"Hey." Gray stroked Natsu's cheeks. "Anything we've done, that's in the past. What matters is now, right here, just us."

"But you're experienced and I...before today..." Natsu's words faded out.

A chill ran over Gray's body. "Oh God," he whispered, feeling sick all over again. That meant...Natsu's first time... "We're going to pretend this is your first."

Natsu looked up in confusion. "Pretend? But..."

"I don't care!" he snapped, feeling a chill of desperation. "We're going to pretend that right now... _right now_..." he emphasized, to let Natsu know he meant everything that happened, even what he himself had done up until now, was dismissed. "This right now is our first time, understand? What just happened, forget about it! This is my first time making love to you, and...and this is your first time...having someone make love to you."

Slowly, Natsu understood what he meant. They were starting over with a clean slate. "Actually, this _is_ my first time...making love," he muttered.

Gray smiled in relief. He hoped this helped Natsu to stay focused on the moment and enjoy it. Yes, the deed itself was a necessity, but Gray did not want this to be merely about drugs and semen antidotes. He wanted to heal Natsu's soul, too.

Natsu glared up. "Still, don't you dare treat me like a virgin. I want this rough, dammit!"

"Got it!" Gray nodded firmly.

He leaned over to give Natsu one more kiss, a firm one this time, tipping his whole head back with roughness. Then, while thrusting his tongue in, Gray grabbed Natsu's numbed legs. They moved with no resistance, but also no support. Gray had to hold the legs so they would not go flopping. He also had to be careful of that severely broken ankle.

"Rough?" he asked playfully as he ran his cock up the crack of Natsu's ass.

The dragon slayer squirmed in anticipation. "Yes," he hissed.

"Fast and dirty?"

"Oh God, yes!"

Gray leaned over and smirked right into his face. "Will you moan like a slut for me? You're so sexy when you do that." Gray's mouth nipped on the neck just beside the jagged scar. "So hot and naughty! Just hearing you scream my name makes me hard."

Natsu's back arched up, and he cried out erotically as he heard those sinfully sweet words that could rack heat over his body like the fires of Hell. "Oh...G-Gray!"

"Yes, like that." Gray leaned back up with a smug gleam in his eyes. So, Natsu still liked dirty talk, eh? Good! "Prepare for your injection, Mister Dragneel. Doctor Gray will be _coming_ soon."

"That is so corny, you perverted... _gyaaaarrrghh!_ "

Gray thrust in and found the way still loose and wet. Inside was hot...so boiling hot, it made him tremble. It was seriously scalding within the dragon slayer's body. Natsu's gasps and writhing movements were enticing, eliciting pulsing desires through Gray's nerves. His blue eyes twitched every time he forced his way inside. His heart pounded hard with every thrust. He wondered briefly where the effects of the drug ended and where his own lust took over. Did it even matter anymore? He wanted this, and Natsu wanted this. Nothing else mattered.

"I love it, Gray. Feels...so good!"

Gray huffed hard. Having Natsu respond back was infinitely more arousing. He held Natsu's lower body up as his hips snapped forward again, again, harder, deeper, all in a fast pace, until his balls were crashing against Natsu. He watched those squinty eyes tighten, yet every time they opened and looked up, Gray's body shivered cold. He felt that tingle of _connection_ , two souls joined together in this moment of passion. Then the eyes tensed up again, and Natsu's spine arched.

"Gray...I'm...I'm...losing it. G-Gonna...come..."

Damn! The way he said those words heated up Gray's cold body. How could Natsu be so seductively erotic?

"Not yet."

Gray wanted to weaken Natsu as much as he could for the effects of the pills to end, but even more, now that he knew Natsu truly wanted this, he did not want this to end. Even though he was starting to feel worn out from the frantic pace, he wanted to keep feeling this incredible heat and tightness around him.

Natsu roared, "I can't...any...long- _gaaah_..."

His body tensed up as he spurted out hard all over Gray's chest, shooting up strongly. Gray gritted his teeth, feeling the hot semen splashing all over him and the sphincter squeeze around him. Still, he held back, gripping the base of his cock to keep himself from coming along with Natsu. Sure enough, the arousal did not soften yet, and Natsu began to sob from the pain. Gray kept thrusting hard into Natsu, not giving him a chance to recover.

"Don't do that again until I'm ready," Gray scolded.

"But...I can't help it..."

"Then I won't _let_ you come!"

Natsu's eyes widened at the threat. The sternness in Gray's face made him tremble. That sort of threat alone nearly made him lose control.

"Do you get it?" Gray asked coldly. "You're working your way into physical exhaustion. You need to stop coming and wait for me. Otherwise, you'll keep skyrocketing your blood pressure and you'll either have a stroke or a heart attack. I won't let that happen, because this heart," he said, placing his hand over Natsu's bare chest, "belongs to me now."

Natsu stared in stunned awe. Then suddenly, he turned his face away and flopped a numbed arm over his eyes. When Gray heard whimpering, he got worried. Was that saying too much? He raised Natsu's limp arm off the face. To his surprise, he saw tears in those narrow eyes. Was he hurting him that badly? Was he crying because of the drug's burning? Or were they tears of shame? Gray's eyes widened in horror, until Natsu glanced up and smiled.

"Belongs...to you...eh?" he stuttered out through his convulsing body.

Gray happily caressed Natsu's chest right over his heart. "That's right. I'm stealing it. I won't let anything hurt your heart."

The brightness in Gray's eyes shined as he leaned in closer. He gently brushed their lips together into a soft kiss. Natsu's body suddenly relaxed, and with that looseness, Gray's hips started up again, smoothly gliding in and out. Natsu moaned loudly at the thrusts.

_'This...this is what I wanted. It's like...like I'm mating. Gray is my mate, and...we're mating. Only better. So much better! I'm...making love. To Gray! And...I want this. I want him! I want him as my mate!'_

"Gray...don't...sto-...-op..." he moaned in a low whisper between each rough thrust. "Don't...stop...m-making...love...to me. Love it! L-Love...you!"

"Natsu!" Gray was shocked to hear him say that.

"Don't stop!" He forced his arms up. Despite the numb hands, he draped his arms around Gray's back, pulling him as close as he could. "I...I wanna hold you," he cried in frustration. "Can't feel my hands."

"It's okay, Natsu," Gray whispered tenderly, stroking the tears away. "I'll hold you tighter for both of us."

Gray grabbed Natsu into his arms and yanked his heavy body up. He sensed there was more dead weight, more areas where Natsu had lost all feeling and all mobility. Still, the dragon slayer managed to wrap his legs around Gray's hips, and his arms stayed around his neck in a hug. Gray set Natsu on his lap, facing him this time. Using his firm arm muscles, he lifted Natsu's whole body up, then lowered him back down onto the cock. Gravity made the downward thrust far more powerful.

"Oh God!" Natsu howled, tilting his head up, as if praying to Heaven for this feeling to never end.

"I like watching you like this," Gray whispered, lifting him again. It was harder work for him, heaving Natsu's body up, but having the dragon slayer's face right in front of him, their bodies so close, gazing up at him as Natsu cried out...it was pure bliss!

Natsu leaned his head down and crashed his lips in tighter as tears of happiness dripped along his cheeks. It was an amazing feeling, making love to one another, being wrapped up in each other's arms. Natsu gave himself completely over to Gray and let the ice mage lift his body and thrust into his ass as fast as he wanted.

Gray saw the change in Natsu. His face said _I want this_ and his flushed body screamed _Take me, Gray!_ He wanted to hold on to this feeling. He wished they could last forever, but he could feel inside him, it was about to end.

"Natsu, get it all out, because I can't last more."

"It's n-not hurting...as badly. I...I think...last one." Natsu began to tense up. "Gray! Wh-when you talked to me...earlier...it...it did some-...-thing," he said in broken phrases as his body was roughly jolted with each thrust. "M-Maybe...do that...again."

Sweating and breathing hard, Gray leaned into Natsu's ear and whispered seductively. "You feel so good inside. So hot! So smooth as I glide into you. I wanna make love to you so hard, fuck you senseless and hear you beg for more!"

Natsu felt the effects in him. Hearing words like that, so dirty and sweetly threatening, affected him far beyond just bodily satisfaction. It made his mind reel, his heart skip, and the desire of the drug seemed to take over his mental state as well as just physical. "Yessss..." he hissed.

"You are so erotic, Natsu...so slutty, it turns me on." Gray felt how the words made Natsu tense up. "You're so hot inside. Every time I thrust into you, it feels like you're gonna burn my cock up, and I wanna douse those flames. I'll come inside and spray that fire out."

"Oh God, yes!" Natsu howled. He bit down onto Gray's shoulder, digging his teeth into his skin until he drew out blood. Gray shouted, but the biting felt erotically good. Natsu groaned into the sweaty skin, "G...r...ay..."

Gray held in the pain of Natsu's teeth as he sped up, pounding with no finesse and not much consideration as to whether it hurt. His own lust was taking over. He grasped so hard into Natsu's hips to raise and lower him, he knew there would be five small bruises on each side.

Natsu cried out, and the legs wrapped around Gray's waist yanked even tighter. Gray gasped as he felt pure primal need surging up. He gave one last thrust, slamming Natsu's body down onto his groin. A harsh cry shuddered out as his body tensed and came undone. They both moaned loudly as Gray came inside of him. Natsu felt the fluid, and like Gray had said in those seductive words, it was like a fire inside him was being doused. His own throbbing shaft squeezed out only a small amount of semen before it finally shrank down.

Heavenly relief finally came to Natsu. The acid and fire drifted away like a bad dream. He shuddered as bliss swept over him, so intense that he could understand how these drugs became addictive. Except, instead of drugs, he was finding himself addicted to Gray.

With both breathing hard, Gray slowly tipped Natsu backward, laying him onto the hard concrete ground. He pulled out slowly, enjoying a final feel of his cock sliding through that tight ring of muscles. Still hovering above him, he watched Natsu with half-closed eyes. Then he glanced down and felt immensely relieved to see Natsu's cock limply resting on his thigh. It was over...and a good thing, too. Gray felt too tired to go for more. He could only imagine the utter exhaustion Natsu must be feeling.

Gray panted heavily, "That...was amazing."

Natsu's arms fell weakly next to him, and he nodded, unable to speak. The way those sage-green eyes looked at him warmed Gray's heart.

"Does it still burn?"

Natsu only shook his head, panting heavily and staring with so many things he wanted to say, yet lacking the strength to move his tongue. Gray looked again at the flaccid cock. As it went down, color began to return to the rest of Natsu's body. Gray could see that the dragon slayer was getting better.

Gray lowered his face and gave a warm kiss onto Natsu's lips that was welcomed with a low hum. They were still in enemy territory, lying naked in a room reeking with sex, but he cared little about that now. This was an experience he would never forget.

Gray did not know if it would ever happen again between them. Maybe it never would. For now, he just hoped their friends would come so Natsu could get to a doctor. Even if the drug had been neutralized, there were other drugs in Natsu's bloodstream and a horrible amount of injuries on his body. Gray rubbed over reddish-purple bruises beaten into his skin, as well as some Gray realized he might have put on him. There was blood on his ass, and his skin had drying semen all over it.

"G-Gray...hold m-me," Natsu said unsteadily.

Gray was confused, and he rubbed Natsu's arms a little more, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "I am."

"Can't...feel...anything," Natsu mumbled between numbed lips. "Fa-...face...n-numb." His eyes slowly closed, although it looked like he was struggling to open them. "G-Gray? Ya there?" He sounded ready to panic.

"I'm right here, Natsu." He hugged the body slowly getting cold. Gray rubbed the chilly skin, wishing for once that his own icy fingers could rub warmth into him. "I'm right here. I won't leave you alone."

"C-can't...feel..." Natsu suddenly lost consciousness and went limp.

Gray pulled back in fear. "Natsu? _Natsu!_ "

He quickly checked for a pulse. It was steady, but the body was getting colder. Gray looked around him. He found more old sheets covering machinery. He ripped a strip off and used it to wipe themselves clean. He also gently wiped the blood away from Natsu's ass, flinching that he had ended up hurting his friend after all. With the rest of the sheet, he wrapped up Natsu's body, providing some decency to the naked boy as well as keeping in the fading body heat. Then Gray put his own clothes back on, but took his white coat to wrap another layer around the dragon slayer. Natsu moaned in his sleep and turned his nose down into the smell of Gray's fabric with a faint smile on his unconscious face.

Gray caressed the bruised cheek once more. "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you, Natsu. I really hope you don't hate me, because...I..." Gray looked away sharply. He could not bring himself to confess his feelings, not while Natsu was unconscious. He would wait until the dragon slayer was awake, and then he would tell him directly.

He heaved Natsu up into his arms and carried him through the room. He heard his friends calling for him, rushing around in the hallway, so he unsealed his ice lock and kicked the door open.

Erza stopped at the sound and rushed back. "Gray! Good, you have Natsu."

"Is he okay?" asked Lucy. She clutched the scaly white scarf with worry. "I...I found this. I know he'll want it."

"Wrap it around him. He could use the extra warmth," Gray suggested, keeping Natsu in his arms. "I got one of the drugs out of his system, but he's losing body heat rapidly. His ankle is broken, extensive injuries, external and internal. They gave him some drug to make him numb. He passed out a few minutes ago."

While Lucy wrapped the white muffler around Natsu's neck, Erza looked down into the pale, bruised face. "He'll need a doctor. Let's hurry out of here. The captured girls are free and police are on their way. Are you okay, Gray? You look a little pale."

"He's one heavy sonuvabitch," Gray said gruffly to mask the dread he felt for Natsu's safety.

"You have bite marks on your shoulder."

Gray tried his hardest not to blush. "He was...belligerent. Mentally unstable. He bit me. I'm fine, really. I'm more worried about Natsu. Let's go!"

Erza did not ask anything more, and all of them hurried out of the warehouse.

**End of Chapter 5**


	6. Hospitals and Horrors

Five days passed, and still Natsu was unconscious, lying on a bed in Magnolia Hospital. The door opened, and a nurse showed Gray inside the private hospital room. He took two steps in before freezing. Seeing Natsu like this, so small on that white bed, with tubes and wires attached to him, was painful to see. It was why he had refrained from visiting the hospital until now.

"Any improvement?" he asked with a terse voice.

"It's a slow recovery," the nurse informed him in a hushed voice, as if her patient was merely sleeping. "We'd never seen such an overdosed patient before, not for those particular drugs. When he wakes up, there's a little healer who said she'll fix his ankle, but we'd prefer to wait until the patient is conscious to make sure the healing is done correctly."

"That would be Wendy," he said to himself. "How long will he sleep?"

"The doctor expects he'll wake up in a day or two."

"It's good to know he's improving," Gray mumbled. "Is it okay if I just sit here with him?"

"Of course, sir. If you need water or something, let us know."

"I'm fine," he said in distraction.

He stepped closer to the bed, drawn to it and the pink-haired boy lying on it. As soon as he heard the door click shut, he let out a tense sigh. He tried to be stern around others, yet deep inside, Gray's world was on fire, and it was all the dragon slayer's fault.

"Idiot flame-brain," he grumbled. "Hey, wake up already. If you're pretending, I'm gonna kick your ass." He waited a moment, slowly drawing closer. "I told Erza about your hentai collection," he tried, knowing that would normally send Natsu fleeing in terror.

He watched carefully. No response. He really was totally unconscious.

Gray looked down into Natsu's face. He looked so peaceful, as if he was simply taking a nap. He had a rather adorable face when he was like this. Gray stretched his hand forward and ran it through Natsu's hair. It felt a little oily, but otherwise it was soft, and his scalp was warm.

"The guild's not the same without you around, so you better wake up. Lucy's moaning about rent money already."

Gray's head dropped, and he gazed over the sleeping body. The bruises had mostly faded to mere discoloration on the bronzed skin. However, there was still that ankle, now in a plaster cast, a few crusty scabs, and some bandages wrapped around the ribs that had been broken. He took a quick glance to the door and around the room to make sure he really was alone before speaking anything more.

With an unsteady voice, Gray said, "I … I need to know what you think, now that you're not a drugged up lunatic. I need to know … if all that was real, if there really was something between us. At least for me…" Gray took Natsu's limp hand and squeezed the callused fingers. "…something changed that day. Maybe the drugs also affected me, but … but I've had time to think. That's all I've been doing these past five days: thinking, trying to sort it all out in my head. How much was the drugs and how much…" He swallowed back intense emotions. "How much was real? I need to know, is it just me? Do you feel anything at all, or was it all drug-induced? I … I need to know!"

The door suddenly opened again. Gray jolted up and quickly wiped a tear aside before a doctor entered.

"Oh! Good to see he's getting visitors. You're the one who brought him in that first day, right?"

Gray coughed to clear his tight throat. "Uh, yeah."

"Were you with Mister Dragneel when he was rescued?"

"I'm the one who saved his butt," Gray snapped, a little upset at having his emotional moment interrupted.

"Good. I have questions for you."

Something about the doctor's tone of voice immediately put Gray on the defensive.

The doctor sat on a chair by the bed and went through a medical file, jotting things down as he spoke. "Mister Dragneel was forced to swallow a rather vile drug."

"Deeziak," Gray nodded.

The doctor's eyes turned up instantly. "How do you already know that? The nurses have been told not to tell anyone."

"Natsu described it, and I figured it out."

"Was he drugged at the time?"

"Yes."

The doctor focused back onto the chart, noting something down. "So, he was still drugged at the time of the rescue. How would you describe his pain level?"

Gray hated questions like that. "He was sobbing like a little girl."

"His mental state?"

"Really messed up. He … he sort of flipped out for a moment."

"Describe it."

"Like, flashbacks. He thought the abductors were there. He … he talked strange. Distantly. Kept muttering and repeating things."

"One of the ladies who brought him in said he bit you."

Gray blushed, remembering the little fib he told. "Uh, yeah. There were a few times when he thought I was one of the abductors."

Now the doctor's eyes turn up with a hard gleam. "The Deeziak drug was out of his system by the time Mister Dragneel arrived here. How did you cure him?"

Gray froze as he realized the portent of that question. He knew his face must have paled a few shades.

"I know how Deeziak is neutralized, boy. I already questioned the other two girls who were with your group that day. They knew nothing about it. I wanted to question you, but you took off." The doctor folded the file and set it aside. His whole posture let Gray know that this was an investigation, not just medical questions. "Was it you?"

Gray turned his face aside. Flashes of that day haunted his mind: touching Natsu, stroking him, entering him, the moans and heated cries, the feel when he came inside and brought a much-needed relief to Natsu's agonized body…

"Please don't tell anyone," he whispered with a tenseness to his jaw.

The doctor gave a long sigh. "I mean no offense—you're obviously a friend—but I admit, I'm suspicious about how consensual it was."

Gray smiled sadly. "It was something we both agreed upon, something … I think … we both wanted." He looked down into Natsu's face. "I won't know for sure until he wakes up."

"And you just so happened to know how to cure Deeziak?"

"I'm a mage. I read about poisons and weapons and crap. It's important to know about those things."

"Yet you still went that far to help him?"

"He's my nakama!" Gray said with fierce loyalty. "I'd fight an army to save his life."

The doctor smiled at such bravery. "I won't harass you more than this, and I won't tell anyone. If anything, you should be praised for going that far to help your friend. It must have been a difficult decision for you."

Gray turned his face aside. This doctor did not know that he had enjoyed every moment of it, and the act evoked many more feelings than merely _helping a friend_. Then he suddenly looked at the doctor with a sense of dread. "Is it still considered a crime?"

"He gave his consent, right?"

"I swear, he did. You can ask him when he wakes up."

"If he remembers," the doctor muttered.

Gray jolted up. "What? Why wouldn't he?"

The doctor now rose and began a routine checkup of Natsu, making sure intravenous lines were in place and checking his breathing. "The amount of drugs he was given, and especially the combination, could affect his brain. Deeziak, in particular, is known to affect the memory, so victims can't recall who their assailant was. Add to that the physical and mental trauma he was put through, and it's highly likely he might not remember what happened. Either the memories will be suppressed due to trauma, or too addled due to the drug."

Gray forgot how to breathe. Living these past few days in emotional limbo was hard enough. What if Natsu could never answer his questions about their relationship because he completely forgot all that happened? He feared that if Natsu could not remember, he would treat Gray the same as usual. To lose everything and pretend like nothing had happened would be torture.

The doctor finished his checkup and left quietly. Gray stood frozen, staring down at that peaceful face, but now he wondered what was happening inside Natsu's brain. Were all those memories slowly being erased?

He recalled some of the intimate moments, like the way he held onto Natsu and stroked his hair as he tried to calm him down, the gentle touches, Natsu's sensual moaning, screaming out his name, and lastly when Natsu confessed that he felt they were more than friends.

What had he meant by that? How much was Natsu's true feelings? How much was the drug?

Gray gritted his teeth and cursed, "Dammit! Please, Natsu … please remember."

He reached out to the sleepy face and moved a strand of pink hair. Then the cold fingers slid down to cup that hot cheek. Natsu's voice haunted him as the memories flashed through his mind.

_"I trust you, Gray."_

_"I want it to be you to do this with me, no one else."_

_"Please, Gray. I need you. I … I want you."_

_"You're the only man I'd want to do this with."_

_"Yeah, more than … than friends."_

_"Actually, this is my first time … making love."_

_"I love it, Gray. Feels … so good!"_

_"I wanna hold you."_

_"Don't … stop … m-making … love … to me. Love it! L-Love … you!"_

Tears poured down Gray's face. The hand on Natsu's cheek trembled.

"I don't want you to remember the fear and humiliation, but I don't want you to forget. I know it's selfish of me, but … I … I can't forget it. Not after what we did together. Not after you told me you love me. I can't watch you go back to when we were just rivals."

Gray gazed at such peaceful slumber as he lovingly caressed Natsu's cheeks.

"You were so cute when you tried to hide your blush from me," he said lighter, keeping his voice quiet. "Especially when you wanted me to touch you. How you asked for it, how you looked, the way you moved, the faces you made, your voice as you came undone … you were amazing in so many ways." He stared a little longer as his smile faded. "Now, I can't imagine not being able to hold you close, caress your face like I'm doing now, and kiss you."

The doctor's words came back with a wave of horror.

 _"Deeziak, in particular, is known to affect the memory, so victims can't recall who their assailant was. Add to that the physical and mental trauma he was put through, and it's highly likely he might not remember what happened._ "

Tears slipped out of Gray's eyes, and his neck tightened from trying to hold back the sadness. He tried not to choke on his words as he whispered, "Bastard, if you forget everything, I won't forgive you. Your heart belongs to me, remember?" He reached down and placed his fingers over Natsu's chest, feeling the steady beats. "I said I was stealing it. Do you think I'm gonna give it back just because you can't remember?" Tears streamed down his face, and he raised his hand to wipe them off. "Dammit, why am I so…?" He cut off the rest of the words.

_… so in love with you?_

Gray smiled at his foolishness for not wanting to admit that out loud as he wiped more tears away. He looked at the dragon slayer with reddened eyes from all the rubbing.

"I'm such a mess, Natsu, and it's your fault." Slowly, he leaned closer to the dragon slayer's ear. He had wanted to wait before saying this, but now he had no clue if he would ever get the chance. Sadly, he whispered, "I'm in love with you, flame-brain. So much that it's hurting me, like you're burning my heart." He leaned back a little, stared for a few moments, before tilting his head and coming closer to his lips. "Maybe if I kiss you, it'll help you to remember."

He closed the gap between them and gently kissed those soft, warm lips. A tear dripped from his eye and splashed onto Natsu's cheek, only to tumble down the side and get lost in the pink hair. Then Gray leaned back up and gazed at Natsu's face, searching for something: a flinch, a smile, some sign that his feelings were coming across.

Nothing.

This wasn't some perfect fairy tale where a kiss awakens the sleeping beauty.

Still…

"I love you, Natsu."

Gray dipped down again and kissed him a little harder. He almost hoped he startled the dragon slayer awake. He would even accept a punch to the face if it meant Natsu would wake up and remember everything. However, when he leaned back up, he saw the unchanged features. Natsu still slept soundly. Gray shuddered out a sob and clutched the sheets in his shivering fists.

"Dammit!"

Just then, he heard Lucy's voice coming from down the hall, Happy's high laugh, and the distinct sound of Erza's rattling armor. Gray pulled away and quickly wiped his tears. He glanced in a nearby mirror; his eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks were blotched, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his lips were still trembling, no matter how he tried to stop them. He could not escape, so he turned as far away from the entryway as possible. The door opened, and the three teammates walked in.

Happy immediately flew forward and landed on Natsu's stomach. "Hi, Gray," he called out.

The Ice-Make mage only mumbled a reply.

Lucy had a bouquet of flowers and walked past the bed to set them near the window. "He looks better today."

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

Erza stood behind the ice mage. "Have you been here for a while, Gray?"

He still kept his face turned away. "Not long. The doctor was in here earlier."

Erza asked, "How is Natsu's condition?"

"Stable. He'll wake up in a couple days," he said, but his voice sounded hoarse. "Sorry, I need some water." He turned away, making sure he never directly faced them.

"Gray," Lucy called out from the window. "Are you okay?"

He quickly headed to the door and snapped, "I'm fine."

Erza gave an exacerbated sigh. "You're not to blame for this, Gray. It was my call to wait until we could be sure about a second infiltration. We didn't know he was getting beaten up and drugged. It's not your fault."

"So you've told me," he grumbled. Still, he felt guilty for letting it happen.

Lucy trotted up and placed a hand on his back. Gray paused momentarily with his fingers stretching out toward the doorknob.

"I'm sure Natsu will be fine," Lucy said with confidence. "I'll make sure he thanks you when he wakes up."

Gray sneered angrily. "Yeah … if he remembers anything!"

Then, unable to stay calloused any longer, he yanked the door open and marched out, trying to hide his face so he would not show his bloodshot eyes to the people around him. He rushed until he reached an elevator. He was the only person inside the lift, so he had a few moments to himself. Gray rubbed his face dry, yet still he sniffled. He cursed softly under his breath, mad at himself, mad at the villains who did this, and mad at Fate for showing him how to love only to strip it away. Then his fingers covered his lips. He closed his eyes to memories as he touched where Natsu's warm breath still sizzled on his skin.

"Natsu," he whispered forlornly.

All he could do now was wait and have faith.

**End of Chapter 6**


	7. Awakening and Agitation

A few days later, Natsu woke up. He came into consciousness slowly, feeling heaviness through his whole body and a sense that he had overslept. His head throbbed in a weird and bad way, not at all like a normal headache. He felt injuries to his body, pain in his chest, ribs, back, arms, face, and just about everywhere. He smelled the sterilized odor unique to hospitals, unfamiliar smells mixed with the familiar aroma of friends somewhere nearby.

He attempted to open his eyes. His vision faded, then returned, then went blurry and doubled until he had to slam his eyelids shut again. A groan escaped his mouth. Suddenly, amidst the pain, heaviness, and disorientation, he felt a soft hand touch his arm.

"Take it easy," came Lucy's voice. "Erza, get the doctor."

Natsu heard movement and soft voices around the room. He blinked a few times as his vision went from blurry to hazy. At last, it cleared up enough to see blond hair and a worried face peering down at him.

"Lucy?" Slowly, with an ache throughout his body, Natsu pushed himself into an awkward sitting position. A doctor entered and took a stand beside the hospital bed. "Where … what's going on?" Natsu stared blankly at the elderly man, then slowly, he looked at his surroundings. "Lucy? Erza? Wow, even Gramps," he said in surprise when he saw Makarov standing beside his bed. Then, slouched in the doorway, looking on from afar, was… "Gray?"

Their eyes locked, and Gray watched cautiously for some spark: a smile, a blush, anything that would tell him that Natsu remembered, and that he felt the same way as him. He knew that the worst would be for Natsu to look at him with disgust, remembering those moments and despising them. He had spent days bracing his heart for every possible reaction.

Instead, Natsu just looked at him, then his eyes swept back over to the others. Gray jolted a little. No recognition at all! Not even revulsion. Just a normal, casual look. Had he truly forgotten everything? Gray's heart already began to sink.

"Natsu!" Happy tackled him with a hug.

"Oww," Natsu laughed, cringing from a pain in his side. "Hey, easy. I think I have a broken rib."

"I was so worried, Natsu."

"I'm fine," the Dragon Slayer laughed, petting his blue head. "Um, why am I here? Is this a hospital? What's going on? Was there a fight?"

Erza looked worried. "Don't you remember?"

"Huh? What am I supposed to…?" Natsu suddenly paused. His face flinched as he tried to think through the pounding throb in his head. "Oh. We were on a mission, right? The jerks kidnapping girls." His brows tensed a little, and he rubbed the temples of his forehead. "What happened? Did I lose a fight? Don't tell me I lost!" he whined in annoyance.

Makarov looked up to the doctor. "Memory loss?"

Gray gulped hard as he looked at the confused Dragon Slayer. Natsu did not even look in Gray's direction anymore, and his face kept flinching as he rubbed his head with an annoyed expression. Gray forced himself to look aside. He had known this was a possibility, but he truly thought someone like Natsu would fight against all negative side-effects.

He had taken comfort in telling himself that even if Natsu could not remember anyone's birthday and forgot to shower sometimes, at the very least he would remember the details of that ill-fated mission. Gray had hoped to find resolution to the confusion, solace for the painful burning in his heart. Either the drug merely released some inhibitions, enough for Natsu to express his true feelings, or Natsu did not feel the way he said that day, in which case Gray would simply have to push aside the feelings that had been blossoming that week.

To have nothing, no recognition, no closure at all, felt like being trapped in Limbo, a state between Heaven and Hell!

The hospital doctor was busy checking Natsu's pulse and listening to his chest with a stethoscope. "What do you remember about your abduction, Mister Dragneel?"

Natsu held his head as the ache intensified. "Abduction? Was I captured? I … I think I remember being tied up. It's like … flashes of scenes in my head. I'm not sure what was real and what was a dream."

"What's your last clear memory?"

"I…" Natsu looked around at all the others. His eyes finally met Gray's again.

The ice mage shivered with some wavering hope. _'Please remember. Please recall at least a little about us.'_

Again, Natsu looked away without showing any sort of specific emotion. "I'm not sure. My head is really hurting."

"Try to recall," urged the doctor.

Natsu's face scrunched up. "It's just little bits here and there. I was tied up. There were … people. Something … it … it hurt." His breaths came quicker, and he looked ready to panic. "They … pain … I tried … I … I dunno." With a gasp, he grabbed his arm where the needles had been jabbed in.

"Natsu…" Lucy squeezed his hand with worry.

Gray's heart froze. _'No! Don't remember that! I don't want to see you like that ever again. I want you to remember, but … but not that!'_

"Okay, not that part," the doctor said in a calming tone. "Don't worry about that part yet, just the last clear memory."

Natsu grumbled in annoyance, wishing the ache in his brain would go away. His memory was so weird, sketchy and jumbled. He sensed there was something bad in his memories, something his brain wanted to hide, and he hated that feeling. Hiding was like being a coward, and he never wanted to be scared of anything. Despite all the confusion and frustration, he tried to recall the last clear picture in his mind.

"I smelled something weird. I realized it was a sleeping gas, and that meant an ambush. I pushed everyone out of the way. Oh, I pushed Gray and Lucy out the window. I'm really sorry about that," he laughed, grinning to Lucy but avoiding the eyes of the Ice-Make mage. "Then suddenly the gas was all around me. I saw Erza and Happy escape. I fell to the floor, and then … I …   
I dunno. The rest is fuzzy, sort of jumbled in my head, nothing solid. To be honest, I don't remember anything about getting captured. I can't even remember the faces of the men who tied me up."

"That's the drugs they used on you," the doctor told him. "It might also be that, with such a harrowing experience, your brain simply blocked that part."

"Was it really that bad?" Natsu hummed, not really understanding it. "I guess it probably was pretty bad. I feel like crap," he admitted, yet laughed it off instantly. "I kind of remember … pieces. Getting hit or kicked or something, and … and bad sensations. Can't remember the details. Probably don't wanna."

His eyes raised again and met with Gray. Natsu looked like there was something new returning to his mind.

Inside the ice mage's head, he was screaming, _'Come on, you idiot, remember me. Remember us. Remember something!'_

Natsu stared at him, and his eyes flinched. His mouth began to open, then closed, and he shook his head. "Why can't I remember everything?" he growled in frustration.

_'No, come on, you idiot flame-brain! Remember it. Not the bad parts, but the good parts. Or was that also a bad memory for you?'_

Gray felt panicky. What if having sex with Natsu only contributed to his trauma? He had been rough, after all. He had touched Natsu despite protests. Ejaculating that many times was surely a trauma to the body. Was it also damaging to his mental state?

Gray felt a shiver through his body. _'Did I make it worse?_ _Did I only hurt you more? Oh God, is this partly my fault?'_

Natsu shrugged off the confusion. "Anyway, do you think you can get someone to heal this ankle? It really hurts."

"Oh!" gasped Lucy. "I was supposed to get Wendy as soon as you woke up."

"It's fine for now. Also, was the mission a success? Did you free the captured girls? I hope you caught all the bad guys."

"We got every single one," Erza assured him. "We also tracked down their clients, and guilds in those countries are working to release the people sent away."

Makarov nodded with a serious face. "It's a sickening international problem. To think that human trafficking is still happening in a place like Fiore! Disgusting! Fairy Tail is working with those foreign magic guilds to ensure that the girls are set free, get medical help, and are returned to Fiore to be reunited with their families."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that. And Gray…" When Natsu looked back over to the door, the ice mage was gone. "Where'd Gray go?"

* * *

Gray stormed away down the hospital hallway, and every cup of water he passed turned to ice as he stomped toward the exit. He fought desperately to hold back tears. He had been warned, after all. With all those drugs, the possibility that Natsu might have amnesia was high. Yet to have Natsu forget such a wonderful experience, to be trapped with these feelings and not be able to share them…

He told himself he should be happy that Natsu did not have to remember the bad parts. A ghastly trauma like that was better off being forgotten. Reminding him would only bring Natsu pain. Gray had seen the panic in his face at just vaguely recalling his time as a captive. Amnesia like this was the body's response to memories that were too horrific to recall. Gray did not want Natsu mentally broken. He never wanted to see the Dragon Slayer like that ever again.

Even if it meant sacrificing his feelings, he did not want Natsu to suffer.

Even if he had to keep quiet and live with the burning pain in his heart, he would accept that suffering if it meant Natsu could smile happily again.

Still, to have him forget the good parts, too…

"Gray!"

He stopped and looked back around as Natsu hopped on crutches through the hall in his hospital gown.

"What are you doing out of bed, idiot?" snapped Gray. "You just woke up, and your ankle is broken. You should be resting."

"Then don't run away from me like that." Natsu stopped in front of Gray and leaned against the wall, only now feeling the weariness of having been stuck in bed for a week. "I just … I wanted to say … thanks." Natsu looked away, frowning as he tried to hide his embarrassment. "I … I can't recall everything right now, it's all foggy, but I remember you grabbed me out of that room."

"Yeah, and you're a heavy bastard."

Natsu laughed softly. "Sorry." He mumbled in a quiet whisper, "I just … I wanted to … to say…"

"Huh? I can't hear you, flame-brain. Speak up."

A vein popped out. "I'm saying thank you, droopy-eyes!"

"For what?" Gray muttered, turning away. "I didn't do anything important. It wasn't much, nothing you have to thank me for."

Natsu's mouth dropped open. "How can you say that?" he whispered, looking heartbroken.

Slowly, Gray glanced back around. "I thought you didn't remember anything."

"Nothing about getting captured, and only bits and pieces about the men who tied me up, but … but I remember … what you did. Afterward, that is. Only little memories, it's all unclear, but … but I … I know what happened, what we did," he said softly, looking bashful. "At least, I sort of do. I wish I could remember it all. That part, at least. I just didn't want to say anything, not in front of the others."

"Oh," Gray mumbled. Now he was unsure if this was good or bad. He wanted Natsu to remember, but he also knew it could destroy their friendship. "So, do you hate me for it?"

Natsu hesitated, gazing up into Gray's eyes and searching his face for clues about his emotions. That cold face was stoic, impossible to read, and it made Natsu hesitant to say anything too abruptly.

Gray hardly even breathed as he waited for an answer. He dared not look overly anxious just in case Natsu crushed his hopes. This hesitation was awful, and his confidence shrank as the seconds ticked by. The two forgot about the rest of the hospital around them as their eyes locked on one another.

Finally, Natsu asked, "Was it really _not important_ to you?" His eyes dropped. "I know you were being affected by the drug, too. You felt it was … was … necessary," he said, ending softly with sadness in his voice. Then Natsu glanced up nervously. "Did it mean anything at all to you?"

Gray shifted his weight awkwardly. "To me? Well, yeah, but … but if it didn't mean anything to you, then we can just forget it. I won't tease you about it. We can go back to…"

"I'm not going to forget it, Gray! And I refuse to just go back to how we were. I'll punch you in the balls if you try to run from me after taking my virginity."

Gray jolted with huge, startled eyes. "What? Your … your vir-…" He shook his head. Did Natsu really forget that part? "Natsu, those men … I mean, I don't want to bring up bad memories, but they … um … to you…"

"What, did you think I was raped?" Natsu shouted furiously, but then he remembered he was in a hospital.

Gray stared down at him, utterly confused now. "Well, yeah. You were."

"No I wasn't."

Gray ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He really hated the idea of Natsu remembering all that, but still! "It's fine if you forgot…"

"No! I … I didn't forget." His forehead tensed up. "Not that part, at least. Wish I could," he growled. "I just don't want to tell anyone about it. I don't want Lucy and Erza to know _… that_ happened to me. They don't need to pity me."

"But you … you had that breakdown, and what you were saying…"

"I was drugged, beaten within an inch of my life, sexually assaulted, forced to do some disgusting things, but they didn't … you know … put it in." His eyes lowered, and his voice fell softer. "That is to say … umm…" He blushed and looked a bit sick. "Does it count as losing your virginity if they use … t-toys?"

Gray looked confounded by the question, then furious at the thought of what must have actually happened to Natsu that day, only to be slightly alleviated to know it was not quite as horrific as he had originally feared. Still, he wanted to beat those men into a bloody pulp … again. "I dunno. I don't think so. I think it only counts if it's with a person. Otherwise, you'd lose your virginity the first time a doctor gives you an enema."

"I see. That makes sense. Then … yeah. It didn't count with them." He shifted his weight on his crutches, looking very uncomfortable with the subject. "Look, I can't recall the details, but I know they did a lot of things to me … really horrible things …   
things I don't wanna talk about just yet … things I don't want anyone in the guild to know about," he said with a shiver, "but not that. I can't remember their faces, the details are fuzzy, but I remember what I felt, and … and it wasn't … that!"

"You can't be sure."

Natsu looked angry now. "What, did you _want_ me to have lost my virginity to those bastards?"

"No! Of course not. But…"

"I told you back then, didn't I? It was my first time making love."

Gray blinked. That was one thing Natsu said that had echoed in his mind, such a sweet thing he said. "I thought you meant _making love_ as opposed to being forced."

"Idiot! I didn't mean that at all. You were my first." The frustration eased out of his face, and Natsu reached up to caress Gray behind the ear. "You were my first, Gray," he repeated softer, smiling gently. "Even if I can't remember the details of being with those men, I remember I said that to you. It was my first time making love, and I remember feeling so happy that it was with you. What you did, and what we said: those memories are carved into my heart, even if the details are fuzzy in my mind. I … I remember that I marked you."

Natsu touched where he had bitten, and Gray flinched from lingering pain. There was still a faint bruise there, and scabs were healing where those teeth had sank in. Gray had looked in the mirror at that bite mark with fond memories and warm feelings. Now, as Natsu's fingers rubbed it, the pain reminded him and made his heart race.

"A Dragon Slayer only takes one mate for life, and even if it was forced upon us, it was still you who did it. So you better not run away from me or I'll sniff you out, hunt you down, and truly make my claim on you."

Still, Gray felt ambivalent. "Even if I was the first, you can find someone else. You were drugged, so … so it … it doesn't have to count. Sort of like an enema, you know. That _mate for life_ thing doesn't have to apply if you don't want it to."

"Who the hell said I don't want it?"

Natsu suddenly grabbed Gray by the collar and pulled him into a rough kiss. Gray's eyes widened with shock at the feel of those burning lips searing away his doubts. Then Natsu yanked back, still holding Gray by his shirt, and glared at him.

"There! I claim you, Gray. You're mine, forever, whether you want it or not."

A deep shade of blush rose on Gray's shocked face. "B-bastard!" he yelled, glancing around nervously at all the nurses and patients who were now staring at them and whispering. "Don't say that so loudly."

The fierceness in his eyes softened. "You … you do want me, right?" Natsu looked ready to panic. "Oh crap, was it only because you were drugged through me? I know that drug affected you, too. If you didn't want it…"

"That's not the problem here," Gray yelled. "Don't … don't just kiss me like that out of the blue! Tell me first."

Natsu smirked at that. "Is that all? Then that means you _did_ want it, and it's okay so long as I warn you."

Gray went bright red. "I … I don't mean it like that at all. We're in public."

"So?" Natsu cupped Gray's face, and in a deep voice, he whispered, "I gonna kiss you now."

"Not in front of…"

"Shut up. You're mine now," he whispered ardently. "I'm claiming you, Gray."

Natsu gently kissed Gray on the lips, and both of them shuddered as their eyes closed, captured in the tender moment. With a sensual hum, Gray grabbed Natsu around the hips, pulled him in closer, and deepened the kiss between them. His tongue met that scorching mouth, and the taste of the Dragon Slayer burning away all worries.

Neither one realized that the members of Fairy Tail had come out of the hospital room and were watching them from down the hall. Erza and Lucy both had dropped mouths and wide eyes. Makarov stuttered and pointed while a nurse fretted that the old man might have a heart attack. Happy giggled to himself.

"They lllllllllllllike each other!"

**End of Chapter 7**


	8. Thoroughness and Therapy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Last chapter. Thanks for reading. Once again, Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, I make no money off this. I wish I did!_

Gray whistled happily as he brought flowers to Natsu's house. Maybe flowers were not a manly gift, but he got them for free, so he figured he might as well cheer up the Dragon Slayer. Natsu had been feeling depressed since being released from the hospital. His mood swings—from feeling exuberant with newfound freedom away from doctors and nurses, to suddenly curling up in a corner sobbing—worried everyone. He was not the same, and no one knew why.

No one but Gray.

Natsu told only Gray about the flashbacks. His memory was still flaky, but suddenly, out of nowhere, someone would say something, or he would do something, or see something, or smell something. Absolutely anything could trigger a flashback. So when Gray entered the house, he knew something had happened when he saw Happy looking worried.

"Gray! Natsu, he … he's doing it again."

Gray tossed the bouquet of flowers onto a table and rushed to the bedroom. Normally, when Natsu had one of his episodes at home, he laid in bed, but this time Gray knew it must have been really bad when he saw Natsu on the floor, naked, hair wet, curled into the corner of the room, hugging a pillow and staring into space with massive, terrified eyes. With a soft curse, Gray hurried forward and hugged those warm shoulders.

"Natsu? Come on, Natsu. Come back to me." He felt a shiver run through the Dragon Slayer's body. "I'm here, Natsu. Can you hear me?"

"Gray?" he whispered distantly. A tear slipped down Natsu's cheek. "They were there. I saw them. This time, I actually saw their faces."

"Shh." Gray hugged him tightly and rocked him. "It's a memory. It happened a month ago."

"But I saw it. I … I remember. All of it, this time. Everything. It all came back."

Gray froze. The doctor had said there was a possibility that Natsu's memories could return. Gray never knew if he really wanted Natsu to relive something like that or not. Now he realized, some horrors were better left forgotten.

"It was like living through it all over again. I could … _hear_ them. See them. Feel their hands." He sobbed and clutched tightly onto the pillow. "It was like it happened just now. I know it's just a flashback but … but it happened all over again. I was there, in that room, with those men touching me…"

"I'm the only one with you now, Natsu," Gray said gently. "What triggered it? And why are you naked?"

Natsu tried to force himself to be calm. "I was in the shower. You know how you just raise your face to the water and gargle it? I did that, and suddenly … the water. When they made me take the Deeziak drug, they poured water on my mouth to force me to swallow. I suddenly remembered that part, and then it was like all the other memories came rushing at me. It wasn't just flashes this time. The whole event, everything … it all came back. I remember when they broke my ankle, and that injury to my ear, it was because they slammed my head into the wall. That man, he … he stepped on my dick. That's how I got those cuts on my penis. I couldn't remember how it got injured like that until just now. He tried to crush my dick and balls with his boot!"

Gray instinctively flinched just imagining that.

"But now," Natsu whispered, "I also remember everything you did. All of it. There were always bits that seemed weird, missing time, fuzzy moments. Now, it's all back." He leaned his head up and wearily rested it against the wall as he smiled up to the ice mage. "You really saved me, Gray. I don't just mean that day. This whole month, dealing with the memories, with the pain and the shame … I might have gone crazy if it weren't for you."

Gray smiled gently, stroking his pink hair. "Then let me save you once more. I was going to ask anyway, but now it seems like perfect timing. Let's go on a vacation."

Natsu arched an eyebrow. "Vacation?"

"There's a ryokan with a medicinal hot spring. I got us a reservation. It's supposed to be so you can heal your ankle. It's still sore, right?"

Natsu moved his foot around. "The bone is healed, but it bugs me once in a while."

"Then it should help, and it'll get you away from all this."

Natsu smiled thankfully. "You're a very thoughtful boyfriend."

"Well, one of us has to be the mature one in the relationship, and it sure as hell isn't you."

"Bastard," Natsu pouted, but he couldn't hold back a laugh.

"Get up and get dressed. I got you flowers."

"Hey, I told you before, if you treat me like a girlfriend I'll bash in your … your … balls." Natsu's eyes went wide with the memory of that boot crushing down on him.

"Natsu!"

He gasped heavily and buried his face down into the pillow. "He … tried to … crush my…" His throat choked up.

"Shit. Come on, Natsu." Gray suddenly grabbed the Dragon Slayer up into his arms.

"The hell are you doing?" Natsu screamed, flailing about.

Gray tossed him onto the bed and laid beside him, yanking the covers over them both. "We said it before, right? You can cry in bed. That's the one place you don't have to worry about crying, because I'm the only one who will be here with you. Those men, that memory—they aren't here in your bed. Only me, and when we're like this, you can cry all you want."

"I'm not … gonna … c-cry," Natsu sputtered with tears already dripping down.

"Of course not. Just let your eyes leak all over me like a gross little boy."

"Shut up," Natsu mumbled, but he buried down into Gray's chest. "I … was scared. I really thought he'd crush them."

"I'm glad he didn't," Gray said softly, but he knew better than to crack a joke or even hint at sex when Natsu was like this. He felt those hot shoulders shuddering, and he kept Natsu close against him as the Dragon Slayer broke down into sobs.

The door opened just a crack, and Happy peeked in. Gray saw the Exceed, and he shook his head. Happy backed out, knowing from past experience that Natsu liked to act brave around everyone, even his best friend. He only showed this weakness around Gray. As Natsu's sniffles burst into convulsive, wailing sobs, the ice mage merely held him and waited, rubbing his back, hugging him close, glad to know that Natsu trusted him most out of everyone.

* * *

A week later, they arrived at the ryokan. Gray had to practically carry Natsu, who was sick from the train ride followed by a cart ride up into some picturesque foothills. However, once inside the room with its private hot spring tub, he immediately began to revive. He walked to an enclosed patio with stone flooring. A round pool was in the center, encircled by bamboo and potted fragrant flowers, with a glass ceiling to let in natural light.

"I can't believe it. A hot spring right inside the room. Gray, this must have cost a fortune."

"It's only for two nights," he shrugged. While Natsu was in the hospital, Gray had been doing extra missions, saving up for something like this as a way to lift the Dragon Slayer's spirits. The massive grin on Natsu's face was enough for him.

"Can I jump in now?"

"Knock yourself out."

Natsu stripped right out of his clothes, not even aware of how Gray stood back and watched with such a tender smile. As Natsu eased himself into the hot water, Gray felt warm inside, hoping this trip really would help Natsu to recover, not just his ankle, but his heart as well.

"It's hot. You'll hate it."

"Che! If I can handle you, I can handle some water."

Gray stripped his clothes as well, but he was smart enough to bring towels over. Sure enough, the water was scalding, and Gray had to ease in slowly, flinching the whole time. At last, he was down, and Natsu sat across from him. Steam drifted between them as they gazed at one another, minds a flurry, hearts racing as both imagined all the things they could do with a private pool like this.

"Give me your ankle," Gray offered.

Natsu popped his foot up and wiggled his toes playfully. Gray took it in his lap and began a deep massage to help the soreness. Natsu leaned his head back and moaned as those thumbs hit the tendons that ached whenever he had to walk long distances for missions. Then up the arch of Natsu's foot, and the Dragon Slayer let out a wanton groan that shot right to Gray's groin.

Natsu felt Gray's hips shifting, and he peeked an eye open. Gray's face was red, and Natsu guessed it was from more than just the hot water. He moaned again, and he saw Gray gulp hard. Smirking to himself, Natsu moved his foot a little closer until it pressed against Gray's arousal. He heard a hissed inhale, but he kept his head leaned back as if merely savoring the massage. His toes moved, rubbing the thick shaft. Gray moved his hands up off the arch and back to the ankle, pulling Natsu's foot a little closer and pressing it more against his arousal.

When Natsu raised his head and looked across the pool, Gray's eyes were narrow and staring hard. Natsu could hardly help but chuckle at that salacious gaze. He rubbed a little firmer, using his toes to rub over the cockhead.

"Nngh," Gray moaned softly, struggling to hold back.

Those cold hands crept higher, up Natsu's leg, to his thigh. At that point, they gave up the massage, and Gray crawled over, sitting on top of Natsu's lap. Slowly, he thrust his hips forward, grinding his cock against the Dragon Slayer's burning arousal. Natsu moaned lowly and dropped his head, watching as they rubbed against one another under the water.

"You always like to watch," Gray noted.

Those green eyes gazed up. "I like to know it's you."

Such an answer was still just a little troubling. Gray knew Natsu had issues with keeping in the moment and not slipping into bad memories.

"It'd be a shame if the water got dirty," Gray whispered lustfully, hoping to pull both of them away from that issue.

That was enough to get them to stand up and climb out of the pool. Gray grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Natsu's body, using it to yank him closer. Natsu looked up, his eyes pleading for a kiss, but Gray smirked as he denied it for the moment. His hands rubbed up and down Natsu's body, drying it with the towel, while frotting up against him. Natsu grabbed Gray's hips, holding him still so he could thrust up against him, rubbing in a way best for him.

"You're a horny little dragon," Gray chuckled.

He discarded the towel and led Natsu over to the bed. They laid down, and Gray immediately rolled to lean slightly over Natsu. Finally, he granted that kiss, and Natsu moaned into it. His eyes fluttered down as Gray's tongue plunged into him. It licked around his own tongue, circling, curling around his teeth, searching out all the flavors of the Fire Dragon Slayer's mouth.

Gray's fingers caressed through Natsu's hair. It was always so surprisingly soft. Then he drifted down his neck, to his chest, and flitted across a nipple, not enough to get a moan, just lightly enough to get Natsu to inhale a little sharper.

Natsu kept his eyes closed, savoring the cold touches. For this whole month, the two had tried to recapture the passion they felt in the warehouse, but although he liked the tenderness Gray showed him, Natsu had an issue with getting completely intimate. He had forced himself to once, nearly two weeks ago, after getting released from the hospital. He managed to keep calm to the end, but he had nightmares for days. He wanted sex— _God, he wanted it!_ —but there was always something stopping him.

He worried that Gray might not be patient enough to wait for him.

He felt Gray's cock press against his leg. Natsu reached down and stroked it, heating his hand just a little, enough to get Gray to groan. Then the ice mage reached down to hold him.

"Damn, you've got a hot cock," he moaned, running his fingers up and down the shaft.

Natsu flinched. A memory resurfaced.

_"Let me stroke him some. Damn, he's got one burning hot cock. Oh fuck, I'm really ready to jizz."_

_"You idiot, you can't last even two minutes with the girls, and you're worse with boys. Here, I'll hold his face. Let's make him eat it._ _Swallow it down, Fairy Dog!"_

Natsu slammed his eyes shut, trying to forget it.

Gray pulled away worriedly. "Natsu?"

He forced himself to smile. "It's nothing."

Gray looked concerned. He kissed Natsu, hoping to keep him in the present. The oddest things triggered memories, and Gray never knew what words would set him off. The most he could do was show Natsu that this was not just about sex. They only had sex once since that time, and Gray didn't care. He wanted to care for Natsu. He wanted to keep being the one person who the Dragon Slayer could turn to when the flashbacks hit. Being the shoulder to cry on and the hands to hug him … that was enough for now.

He loved Natsu. The Dragon Slayer had claimed him, and he wanted to live up to that. If it took Natsu time before he could get intimate again, Gray would keep waiting.

He reached down, stroking Natsu again, deciding it was best not to say anything. He moaned instead when he felt that fiery shaft. Natsu's whimper seemed to be encouraging, too. Gray held it just a little firmer and stroked it faster.

Natsu caught his breath. The squeeze on his cock, the tightness on that area…

_"Does it hurt, boy? It's what you get for bringing your friends along to try to capture us. No one fucks with us, or we fuck them back … literally!"_

Natsu turned his head to the side and with closed eyes he shuddered out, "N-no…"

Gray looked down, really concerned now. "Natsu?"

Natsu's eyes opened wide when he heard his name, and he jolted to look up at Gray. He relaxed a bit when he saw the raven hair and stormy-sky eyes, but then he felt guilty for ruining the moment.

"Natsu," Gray ordered firmly. "Look at me."

Feeling miserable and weak, Natsu stared up with glazed eyes. He felt that hand on him again and flinched.

"Keep looking at me. Don't you dare look away."

Natsu forced his eyes back onto Gray. He felt the stroking, but he focused on the droopy eyes above him.

"This is me doing this. I won't let any other bastard touch you. I'm your mate, right?" Gray leaned over and kissed him, then looked deep into his eyes. "I'm a hellishly covetous boyfriend. Don't even think about anyone else touching you while I'm stroking you off. I'll be jealous. Now, touch me, too. Heat your hand up like before. I love it when you do that."

Natsu shivered slightly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Right then, Gray remembered Natsu's reactions to dirty talk. He leaned in closer to his ear, whispering with wisps of cold breath. "I like the feel of your rough hand on my cock."

Natsu jolted and inhaled sharply at the words.

"I like how you stroke me, and how your hand heats up. It makes my dick hurt so bad, and makes me feel so good."

A slight whimper shivered out. "Masochist," he accused with a moan.

"You can be my sadistic little dragon anytime. I'd love to feel that fire in me." Saying that gave Gray an idea. "I don't like to ask this, but … did those men suck on you?"

Natsu crunched up his face in disgust. Why the hell would Gray ask something like that? "No, they never did something like that. Why?"

"Good." He slid off the edge of the bed and rested on his knees, dragging Natsu's body to follow. "Sit up," he ordered. Natsu blushed as he sat, his legs hanging off the bed, with Gray sitting between his spread knees. The ice mage gazed up to him, and those erotic blue eyes shined with promises of pleasure. "I wanna give you your first blow job."

Natsu flushed at how blunt he was about it. He put a hand on Gray's head, wondering if he should stop him. "You don't have to."

"Idiot, I know I don't _have_ to. I want to. I want you to watch how I do it, because one day, when you're ready, I want you to do it back to me." He lowered down, keeping his eyes locked up on that stunned face. "Keep watching. Feel everything I do. Learn from it, just as you would learn techniques while fighting someone."

Natsu stared down like a beast watching its prey, taking in how the prey moved, its speed, determining strengths and weaknesses. He stared so hard at Gray, it was a little unnerving. Gray lowered his eyes to the huge cock in front of him. He remembered teasing Natsu in that nightmarish warehouse about _sucking out the poison_. Now, he hoped he could suck out the residue of that poison that still affected Natsu's heart.

Gray licked around the head, lapping off a drip of bitter pre-cum. Then his tongue dragged down the underside to Natsu's sack. Natsu flinched at the wet touch to that sensitive area. Gray gazed up again and saw Natsu's face pinched up tight.

"Look at me," he ordered, and the squinty eyes opened again.

He held Natsu's cock, keeping the massive arousal up, and then dipped down to take the balls into his mouth. A part of Gray knew this was a risky move. Since regaining his memories, Natsu was overly-sensitive about his scrotum. This would either trigger something bad, or help show him that this area of his body could also feel pleasure. Like a teabag, he dipped those scalding balls into his mouth, sucking on them, licking, being careful with this extremely sensitive area.

"Oh God, Gray!"

His fist tightened in the black hair, and he almost pulled Gray away. However, something stayed his hand.

In Natsu's mind flickered the memory: a smashing boot, agony, humiliation, fear. It flashed just briefly, then shattered like glass. That was the past. That was some asshole who was now rotting in jail. This here, this now … _this_ was Gray Fullbuster. This was the man he loved, the man who gave him, not pain, but intense pleasure.

"Gray," he shuddered, releasing the grip in his hair and stroking it back instead. He let himself relax and truly feel the erotic bliss of Gray's mouth around his balls, being so tender with him. "I … I like that."

Gray hardly realized how tense he was until he sank in relief. He pulled back and gazed up. "It's okay?" he asked worriedly.

Natsu nodded with a soft and relaxed smile. Gray felt immensely relieved that his small act helped Natsu overcome one issue, but he knew there were many more pains inside his heart. Buzzing with happiness, Gray licked the erection, licked and licked, too happy to care if it looked ridiculous rather than erotic.

"H-Hey! That tickles," Natsu complained with a giggle.

Then, with no warning, Gray plunged down onto the stiff arousal.

Natsu groaned and fisted up the sheets, trying to hold himself back. He could feel the back of Gray's throat, the resistance met there, and his tongue moving on him. Slowly, Gray pulled back up to the head, his lips tight around him, his tongue flicking the slit, and he gazed up. Natsu swore Gray had never looked so sexy as this, with his eyes gazing up and his mouth filled with cock.

Gray popped his mouth free for a moment. "Are you watching?"

Natsu swallowed hard and eked out, "Yeah."

An arrogant smile lifted his cheeks. "Do you like it?"

Natsu nodded vigorously, hoping for more action and less talking.

"You can come in my mouth if you want. I wanna taste it."

Natsu couldn't help it. Those words made his whole groin area thrust as pure lust surged through him.

"Easy there!" Gray laughed. "Hey, wanna try something?"

"Is it kinky?"

"Hell yes!" Gray licked Natsu right up the shaft while keeping his eyes up into that heated gaze. "I want you to mouth-fuck me."

Natsu looked intrigued but confused. "Isn't that what we're doing?"

"No, I'm giving you a blow job, sucking you off. I just figured you'd want in on the action. Stand up."

Gray scooted back to give Natsu room to stand, then raised on his knees a little higher to be at the right height.

"Now, thrust into my mouth."

Gray wrapped his lips around the shaft, but he held still, gazing up, waiting, encouraging with his eyes. Slowly, lacking confidence, Natsu moved his hips, hesitantly thrusting into Gray's waiting mouth. When he pulled out, Gray sucked, and Natsu clenched up. Gray's tongue lapped around him while keeping a tight hold with his lips. Natsu reached down, held Gray's head, and pressed in again, guiding himself in by feeling where Gray's head was. Then he pulled out, and the suction made him plunge in harder.

"Fuck, Gray," he hissed.

The idea of having Natsu simply thrusting into him like this made Gray moan, vibrating against Natsu's cock.

"Oh..." he groaned tensely. "Do that again."

Gray moaned, putting as much vibration into his mouth as he could. Natsu's hips snapped harder, thrusting against Gray's throat until he had to hold Natsu's thighs back before he triggered the gag reflexes. Instead, Gray tightened his lips around Natsu and used his tongue to press that cock up against the roof of his mouth.

Natsu suddenly felt not only tightness of the lips, but the textured bumps of Gray's tongue and the ridges on his mouth, all of it massaging his cock. His hips snapped forward, and he heard a gag from Gray. His sadistic side liked that, so he did it again, rammed against Gray's throat. The ice mage flinched, and tears lined his eyes. Dammit, but the Dragon Slayer had strength in those thrusts! Gray's moans made vibrations that shot straight to the coil in Natsu's gut, snapping everything inside him. Natsu sped up, pounding that mouth, ignoring the hums of discomfort.

"Nngh … G-Gray … _Gray!_ " he screamed, the only warning he could get out before coming hard with the buildup of so many weeks without a release.

Gray kept the salty fluid in his mouth until Natsu's cock stopped twitching, then pulled back, slowly withdrawing, hollowing his cheeks as he sucked one last time, until Natsu's softening cock popped out. Then he waited until Natsu looked down at him, flushed with fulfillment, before thickly gulping it all down and catching a breath with a lick to his lips. Those heated eyes widened as he saw Gray's throat work. The ice mage rested down on his heels and smirked up at the crimson embarrassment on the Dragon Slayer's face.

"You taste hot."

Natsu smirked down at him. "It felt like you were trying to suck the fire right out of me."

"I think I just did." Gray stood and shoved Natsu back to the pillows. He collapsed beside the pink-haired boy and cuddled against him while Natsu caught his breath. "Was that okay?"

"Hell yeah," Natsu exclaimed airily. Then he glanced over. "Hey, you need it, too."

"Yeah, but that can wait. You're way too sexy when you're spent."

Natsu pouted and turned away. "Shut up," he muttered. "Why did you do that?"

"What? Did you not like it?"

"Of course I did. I'm just curious. You could have just banged my ass."

"You don't seem to like that."

"I do," Natsu mumbled guiltily. "It's just … I…" The cringing in his face showed just how far he still needed to go in order to heal all the pain in his heart.

Gray leaned over him, stroking his cheeks to draw him away from the flashbacks. "I want to figure out what you like, what's okay. If something isn't okay, we won't do it, simple as that."

"But what if it's something you wanna do?"

"Natsu, there are a thousand kinky things I want to do to you. You won't like some, and you'll really love others. I just have to figure out which ones are which. You were okay with this, right?"

"Definitely!"

"Good. There are lots of variations to blow jobs, you know."

Natsu's eyes widened with eagerness.

"See," Gray teased. "Why should we waste time on things you don't like when there's a world of kinky fuckery to discover?"

"Kinky fuckery? Seriously, don't ever call it that. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Gray smirked. "Should I call it lovemaking?"

Natsu blushed and tipped his head away. "M-maybe. I mean, unless you're just in this for the sex."

"I'm a hot guy. I could get sex anywhere."

Natsu's face flamed in outrage. "Bastard! Aren't you being too conceded?"

Gray let his fingers glide over Natsu's chest. "I don't just need sex, is what I'm saying." He began to lean over Natsu's body again, kissing his neck. "I want to take care of you. I want to have fun together." He nibbled over the scar, feeling the rapid pulse in Natsu's throat. "I want to fill you up with pleasure, help you forget about that dreadful day. I want to heal you."

Natsu's arms shot out and forced Gray back. The tense fury in his face shocked the ice mage. "Don't use sex as some sort of psychological therapy, Gray. I don't want that. And I don't want to forget. I finally remembered everything."

"It's giving you nightmares."

"Then I'll deal with it," he shouted angrily, "but don't use sex to cure me. I don't want to think in the back of my head that you're only banging me to help me out, like back then." Natsu closed his eyes and turned his tormented face away. "I don't ever want to feel indebted like that again."

"It didn't stay that way for long, you know."

"I know, but … the first time … I lost my virginity, not because you wanted to make love, but because you realized I was sick and needed to be cured. Now, every time we try to do it again…" Natsu's throat tightened so hard, he had to stop speaking and swallow down his emotions. "Every time you enter me, I'm forced back into that moment. I know we eventually worked things out, but … right then, right at that moment, it wasn't out of love. I can't sort it out in my head just yet. Why did you do it? Why did I allow it? It's too much to think about while trying to enjoy sex. I end up going in circles, forgetting where I am, until finally I'm back in that moment, and it freaks me out."

Gray caressed a tear away from Natsu's cheek. "Is it only when I enter you? That didn't happen just now, did it?"

"With you sucking me? No, that was fine."

Gray nodded to himself. "It seems pretty obvious, then."

Natsu flinched and looked over to Gray in fear. Obvious? Like, the only solution was to break up? That was his worst fear. For how much he did not want Gray to feel like he merely had to cure him, he also knew that without Gray's constant support, he would have been a messed up mental case by now.

After a moment of tense silence, Gray said with determination, "I want you to make love to me, Natsu."

The Dragon Slayer's eyes widened in surprise. He had not expect that at all. "You mean … me … to you?"

"You on top. That's what I mean. If being the receiver triggers flashbacks, then let's see if you being the giver is okay."

Natsu folded his arms over his chest stubbornly. "Are you saying that just to cure me again?"

"Oh, hell no! It's something I really wanna try. I would've eventually suggested it anyway, I've been wanting to for weeks, but I wasn't sure if you'd be ready. If it's not good, don't force yourself. Simple as that. It's just something else I wanna try to see if we both like it."

"And … I can … put it in?"

Gray laughed at his stunned expression. "That's the general idea, yeah. I mean, if you don't want to—"

Two hands forced Gray flat onto the bed, and before he could complain about the roughness, he saw Natsu on top of him, those strong arms caging him down, those narrow eyes glinting with desire.

"Easy there, dragon," Gray laughed. Oh yes, this was going to be fun!

"Can I do anything I want?" Natsu asked, breathing hard with anticipation.

Gray's brow creased. "That's always been the case."

Natsu's eyes flicked one way, then another, thinking back through their times being intimate together, wondering why he felt differently. "It was always … _you_. You'd do things. I just waited to see what you'd do."

"Well, there's your problem! No wonder I always felt so exhausted. Lovemaking is between two people, each one taking a role. It's not one person doing the work while the other lies back." To show him, Gray's hands reached around Natsu and eased him closer. "Maybe I should teach you this, make it your Sex Education lesson for the day."

Natsu laughed at his teasing yet seductive tone. "I think I learn best when it's hands-on."

"I'll give you an oral exam later."

Natsu leaned down to Gray, barely letting his lips flutter over his mouth. "I thought I already passed your _oral exam_."

"Idiot. Obviously that was the pretest. I have to see if you learned from my example."

Natsu flinched, and Gray felt a shiver in his muscles. He rubbed the bronzed arms comfortingly.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Natsu squirmed, but Gray held him in place. He wasn't going to let him back out of this now.

"This isn't a flashback. I can tell in your eyes. What is it?"

"Well, I just … I … I don't think I can do what you did. Those men … they—"

"Shhh." Gray put his finger to Natsu's lips. "If you can't, then we won't. Easy as that. Let's figure out what you like first. We can sort out the rest later."

"I just feel guilty. I'm holding us back. I'm the one with these issues, and you—"

"Natsu!" he snapped. "You're seriously killing the mood here. Are you gonna make love to me or not? My boner needs to know whether to stay up or go down."

Natsu laughed at how easily Gray could move him past the pain of the past and force him back into the present. They had talked this issue to death over the past month, and they would probably talk about it more in the future. He did not want to waste their weekend discussing it all over again. Right now, he wanted to stay in the moment. He wanted to pleasure Gray in any way he could. Gray showed him all sorts of attention, so Natsu wanted to do the same back.

Natsu leaned over and kissed Gray, timidly at first, but those soft lips froze away the monsters of the past. The worries, the fears, the nightmares, they all left when he heard Gray's deep hum of pleasure. Natsu pulled back, and he saw how Gray's mouth tried to follow up with him, then sank back down in displeasure at the lack of contact. The fact that Gray craved him this much boosted Natsu's confidence.

He leaned over quickly and ran his tongue over Gray's nipple. The pale body under him arched with a groan. Then Natsu lathed the other nipple, and Gray whimpered in pleasure. Natsu's fingers rubbed up and down the taut abdominal muscles, stroking heat into the chilly skin. Those hot caresses and moist tongue licking all over his cold body made Gray moan loudly.

Those heated sounds and the smell of Gray's arousal drove Natsu crazy. He wanted to taste all of Gray.

_All of him!_

Slowly, Natsu kissed down his stomach, getting closer to his groin. Gray looked up with concern.

"Hey, if you can't do that, don't force yourself. I want you fucking me, not spazzing out on me."

"Shut up. I don't think I can suck on you just yet, but there's something else I wanna try."

"Something … else?"

Natsu only licked down the shaft. The idea of putting it into his mouth brought up memories of the ball gag the abductors had used, and those cocks that had been in his face, covering him in filth. The way his stomach clenched at just the idea, he knew that, for now, blow jobs were off limits. He had a long way to go with healing before he could do that. However, Gray had said they should explore what he _could_ do, and there was something he wanted to try, even if it was weird.

"I don't think I can put something into my mouth," he explained, "but I think licking is okay."

"Oh," Gray said, clearly confused yet intrigued. "Well, if you want to lick me off…"

"Tempting, but not quite what I had in mind."

He grabbed Gray, and with surprising strength, flipped him around hard. Gray landed on his stomach, and his face smashed into the pillow below. He cussed into the downy fluff, but before he could lift his head to get a proper curse out, Natsu spoke again.

"Lift your ass into the air."

Gray gulped and turned his head to look at Natsu's face. Was he planning to do what he thought this was? Curious, he obeyed, if only to see if he was right. Natsu's eyes narrowed as Gray's ass lifted for him. Automatically, his hand reached for his own cock, needing to hold himself back as Gray's tiny entrance became visible to him. He licked his lips hungrily. Fire coursed through his veins as he gazed at the wanton position.

"You look like such a slut," he whispered.

Gray frowned at that. Maybe Natsu got off on dirty talk, but it did not do much for Gray.

Natsu took both butt cheeks into his hands, spreading them, then bringing them together. Gray groaned as those hot hands kneaded into him. Natsu did this over and over again, then leaned over and blew steamed air onto the tiny hole while the cheeks were spread, only to push them back together and make Gray really feel that heat. A gurgled grunt escaped the ice mage.

Natsu was enthralled by the pink marks his fingers left behind on the soft globes. He buried his face between them, breathing in the musky scent.

"Oh! Dammit! Natsu, no … don't … nnngh! Oh God!"

Natsu licked up and down Gray's crack, from balls to spine, and swirled his tongue in tiny circles around his opening. He hummed around Gray's twitching hole, earning another tight-throated choking noise, before finally sticking in his tongue. Gray was so cold on the outside, but Natsu always suspected he was a normal warm-blooded man inside. Sure enough, he was right. His insides were hot, and Natsu's tongue plunged into that warmth.

After some low groans and much clawing of the sheets, Gray managed to regain a bit of composure. Dammit, but that tongue was scalding! He feared to know just how hot Natsu's cock would be … and he was eager to find out!

Natsu felt the ring of muscles soften, accepting the shallow thrusts as he fucked Gray's ass with his tongue. It wasn't as gross as he feared. Gray was fresh out of the bath, after all, still damp and smelling of mineral water. The muskiness of his arousal was strong here, overwhelming Natsu's nose and nearly shutting down his brain. His index finger wiggled in, joining alongside the tongue. He pumped both in and out at a quick pace. He felt Gray's muscles clench around him, and a shiver ran down his spine. He was so … tight!

Then he put a second finger in and stretched Gray carefully. The ice mage was keeping quiet, and it worried Natsu. Was he doing this all wrong? Was Gray in pain and trying to hide it? Then he saw Gray's face flinch. His heart just about stopped until he saw the crimson blush spreading across his cheeks.

Natsu understood now. Gray was afraid to make too much noise. It was cute!

"You probably need three fingers, right?"

"Yeah," Gray whispered, focused to keep stoic. "You're rather large."

Natsu felt like blushing at the compliment. Instead, he wiggled one more finger in.

"Shit!" Gray screamed. He grabbed Natsu's wrist, holding him still. "Shit, shit, shit … just … hold on." He took a breath and let it out slowly, relaxing with the exhale. Natsu watched with a troubled face. Why did it hurt Gray so much?

Natsu pulled back as something dawned on him. "Have you ever done this before?"

Gray flinched slightly at the question. "Um, no. Not bottoming."

"Are you sure you want to?"

"Yeah." He looked up at Natsu with a weak but determined smile. "I want you to be my first."

Natsu blinked in surprise. His mouth opened to speak, then closed to swallow something into his parched throat, then opened again, but no words came.

"You look like a moron," Gray stated flatly.

Natsu's mouth closed and pouted. "Hey, do we have lube? My fingers are dry. It'd probably help."

"Yeah, it's…" Gray looked around. "Crap, it's in my coat pocket."

"Don't move." Natsu withdrew his fingers and trotted over to where Gray had undressed, with the coat laid neatly over a chair. He dug around with his clean hand until he found a little bottle. He brought it back over to the bed, climbed on, and took off the lid.

"Forget the fingers," Gray said and he flipped around to lie on his back and face Natsu. "Just go for it."

"It'll hurt."

"Payback for what I did to you our first time."

"Hmm, as I recall, you were quite rough."

"As per your request."

Natsu leaned down into his face with a smirk. "So, how would you like me to do it?"

Gray reached up and caressed his face with a cold yet tender touch. "Slow and gentle. Make love to me. But when I ask for it, be ready to ravage me like the dragon you are!"

Light gleamed in Natsu's eyes. Words were unneeded now. Those eyes spoke loudly enough, and that gleam said _'Dear God, I want to love this man for the rest of my life.'_ Natsu bent over, giving Gray a burning yet chastely restrained kiss.

"As you wish."

Natsu drizzled as much lube as he could on himself, far more than was probably necessary, but a little extra never hurt. For good measure, he let some dribble onto Gray's ass and rubbed it around, slicking a finger in again, just one to make sure it was coated well inside. Grasping himself, he aligned as well as he could and gently, oh so gently, pressed in…

And slipped!

Natsu frowned, but the slick cock sliding over Gray's ass, over his sack, and up to his tense erection made Gray moan. If it was an accident, Gray certainly wasn't complaining. Natsu took a firmer grip this time and made sure to line up, keeping a hold on it as he pressed.

And pressed.

And tried to press again.

_'Dammit, how hard can it be?'_

"Trouble?" Gray asked in amusement.

"Shut up!"

"Need help?"

"I've got this. You're too damn tight."

"Maybe so," Gray acceded. "I'm a bit nervous."

He sure did not look nervous, but then again, Gray kept a cool composure most of the time. "Well, relax. I'm not gonna shoot flames up your ass."

"You sure as hell better not! Knowing you, you could."

"You know, our first time, I half expected your cum to turn into ice inside of me."

"I've been known to do that, ya know."

Natsu glared down. "Don't talk about what you've done with other people when I'm with you."

"I'm just saying, if that's something you want to feel some time—"

"What I wanna feel right now is the inside of your body. Loosen up, dammit."

"I'm trying. It's not easy when I see that monster about to enter me."

"Scared of it?" Natsu asked haughtily.

"Shut up, asshole!"

"I'm trying to get into your asshole, so loosen up."

"Yeah, yeah. Try it again."

Natsu pressed, and this time the tip slipped through the tight ring of muscles.

"Well, that's better!" He looked to Gray and saw his eyes closed, his face slack, and his breathing even. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Shut up. Focusing." He took another deep breath and let it out slowly. "More."

Natsu pressed until the entire flared head was in. He watched Gray flinch, then focus on whatever meditation he was doing to keep relaxed. Natsu felt the muscles loosen, and in one slow but even glide, he was in fully.

"Wow. You'll have to teach me that trick."

"It's called patience and concentration, two things you utterly lack."

"I'm patient. I'm going slow."

"You just entered, idiot flame-brain. How long will you keep it slow?"

"Until you tell me otherwise."

"And if I never say it?"

"Then I'll keep making love so slowly, our two days here will pass and you'll still be under me begging to come."

"Tempting, but we could try that test of endurance another day, when I'm not paying for a nice room."

"Can I move?"

Gray thought about it. "Slowly. It's … weird."

"Painful?"

"A little," he admitted. "Not as bad as I thought, but still … I'll need to soak my ass after this."

"Good thing we have a pool for your aching virgin ass."

"Not virgin anymore."

"Nope. Claimed under the banner of Natsu Dragneel."

"Which makes you fully my mate," Gray smiled lovingly, and the tender words stopped Natsu's playful banter. "Now move your cock, dammit."

"You sure know how to kill a good moment."

"I'm trying to make a better moment. So move!"

As his hips pulled out and thrust in, Natsu gazed down at Gray. Every flinch, every gasp, every tense draw of his brows as something hurt, or gagging gasp when something felt truly incredible … all of it intrigued Natsu.

To think, he was the one giving pleasure. It was way different from other times. As he thrust in and watched Gray's reactions, his mind was nowhere near that place of horror. It was fully here, in this ryokan, all focus on the lover under him. Sweat made Gray's black hair stick to his forehead, and Natsu wiped it back off his scarred brow. Then he leaned forward and kissed the center of Gray's head.

The ice mage peeked an eye open and saw that narrow gaze watching intently. Natsu smiled as their eyes met, filled with a joy he could never express in words. His gaze never left Gray's face. His heart pounded hard, and his eyes glistened with tears he refused to shed, happy that he could give such pleasure to another person. He used to hope that, one day, he would find a mate to love dearly. Now he found that mate in the most unimaginable person.

Gray eventually got flustered at those intense eyes. "Bastard, don't watch me like that."

Natsu chuckled softly at the blushing face. "Fine then."

He closed his eyes and leaned forward, kissing Gray with fiery ardor. Gray began to reach up, but Natsu's fingers grasped his hands and pressed Gray down, pinning him to the bed. Natsu was still being gentle, but that little bit of dominance made Gray quiver with delight.

The sunlight slanted through the patio glass as minutes ticked by. The room was already moist and warm from the hot spring; now the smell of sweat and musky arousal added to it. The drawn out chirps of cicadas barely masked the sounds of moist thrusts and gentle moaning. The bed rocked slowly as Natsu obeyed, not speeding up, but keeping Gray right on the brink of orgasm and holding him there, sometimes stopping completely if he felt the ice mage tensing too much. He could smell the wax and wane of Gray's body, how his scent was subtly different when he was close, and how that scent faded when he relaxed again. The sheets were tangled with Gray clutching at them and Natsu digging his toes in to thrust again and again.

"Almost…" Gray hissed and tensed. "Touch me."

Natsu stroked Gray's shaft in time to his thrusts. "Do you like this? Do you like when I stroke your throbbing cock?"

Gray peeked an eye open. "My what?"

"You sound so slutty, like a bitch in heat—"

"Natsu, seriously, don't."

He paused and looked down in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Don't talk like that."

"Do you mean dirty talk?"

"Yeah. That doesn't work on me," Gray muttered.

"But what I said—"

"Dirty talk isn't my thing, okay? It works on you, and I don't mind talking like that, but when I hear it said back to me … it's just … not my thing. But erotic talk, that works."

Natsu blinked in surprised. "There's a difference?"

"A huge difference! For one, don't cuss, don't insult, don't be crude, just … just tell me…" He blushed and looked aside. "Tell me how much you like it. Tell me how good you feel. That sort of stuff. But be tender about it."

"You have a surprising gentle side to you."

"Gotta problem with that?"

"Nope!" Natsu grinned happily to know how to make things a little better for Gray's pleasure. He leaned into Gray's ear and tried again. "I love feeling my cock inside you."

"No _cock_. Don't say cock. It ruins the mood."

Natsu pouted and thought again. "I thought you'd be cold inside, just like your skin, but you're surprisingly warm, gentle … smooth. Being inside you is like heaven. It's amazing, having our bodies joined like this. I'm part of you, Gray."

The ice mage gasped at that, and Natsu took notice.

"I want to stay part of you, so close that our bodies merge. Fire … inside ice!" He gave a slightly harder thrust as he said that.

"Natsu!"

"I love to hear you say my name. It makes me shudder deep inside, like I could come just by listening to your voice. Such a sexy, deep voice!"

"No, too crude."

Natsu frowned. What a picky guy! Then Natsu thought of an idea. He leaned over and gave Gray a languid kiss. "Your lips are cold, but so soft. I want to warm those lips up." He kissed Gray again, tugging on his lower lip. Then his hands stroked over his chest. "I want to warm all of your body, Gray. Every inch of it. With my hands…" He rubbed lazy circles around his chest, avoiding the nipples, which only made Gray squirm more. "…with my mouth…" He leaned over and licked the nipples, left and then right, getting a sweetly seductive mewl from the ice mage. "…with my whole body. I want to melt you, and love you, and be the flame that keeps you warm at night." He leaned right up into Gray's ear and whispered, "I want to love you forever … my mate."

"Nnnngh … Natsu! Okay, fast now. Go for it."

Natsu still rocked his hips slowly. "Do you want me to pleasure you more?"

"Nngh … mm-hmm," he nodded.

"Do you want me to make love to you more vigorously?"

"Yessss."

"Look at me."

Gray opened his eyes widely, and his straining body relaxed.

Natsu leaned down and breathed, "I'm gonna make love to you so thoroughly, so roughly, but so tenderly, you'll hurt in the morning, and you'll be begging me for more. You'll wake me up to make love to you in the middle of the night, and again as the sun rises, and right after lunch, again and again. By the end of this weekend, your ass will be well acquainted with my … with…" He almost went into dirty talk, but he stopped in time. "I'll make you ache, Gray. Ache with need for me. When you wake up sore, I'll kiss away all your pain. I'll kiss you … _everywhere_."

Gray was very near breathless. "You're getting better at talking like this."

"It's a pain in the ass, y'know."

"So's your dick."

Natsu laughed at the witty comeback. "Tell me what you want … and tell me dirty."

Gray's face snarled hungrily. "Fuck me hard."

Natsu slammed fully in and held there while he recovered from the throbbing pleasure of those naughty words. "More. Tell me more."

"I want you to jackhammer that fiery cock into my ass. I want you to come in me, fill me up, burn me inside. I want you to fuck me so hard, so brutally, I'll be screaming your name like a whore."

"Shit!" Natsu hissed, spurred on by those erotic words. He rammed fiercely, and the bed rocked with every thrust.

"N-Na- … -tsu! Oh … oh God. Ahh … nngh … yesss!"

"Graaaay!"

"Touch … touch me … m-more! Yes! Na- … Natsu!"

"Fuck, Gray!"

"Harder…"

"No … gonna come … now!"

Natsu slammed in and stiffened. Gray felt scalding heat inside.

"Hot … hot … oh my God, that's hot! Gaaaaah!"

The pain of the heat filling him finally drove Gray over the edge. His back arched and his toes curled as Natsu's hand stroked all the lust out of him in spurts of white and growls of fulfillment.

Finally, Natsu collapsed over Gray. He panted in exhaustion, slow and even breaths straining his lungs, then licked his dry lips. He wearily lifted himself and looked down at the ice mage under him. Gray's head had collapsed to the side, and he was gasping just as hard. Those blue eyes finally opened and gazed up at the narrow sage-green eyes squinting down at him.

"Was that … better … for you?" Gray asked through heavy panting.

Natsu smiled with a weak chuckle. "That was pretty damn amazing." He slowly pulled out.

Gray glanced down. "Thank God you shrank! I couldn't handle another round."

Natsu laughed wearily. "You know, I liked it this way so much, I might never want to bottom again."

"Screw that idea!"

"Yep," he said flippantly, "I think I'll top from now on."

"That's it, I'm gonna do everything I can to get you over your trauma, because I wanna be in your ass again one day."

"I dunno, I like being dominant over you."

"This isn't a frigging brawl. You don't win or lose."

"Sure felt like I won against you, though. Or won against something."

"Idiot," Gray muttered, but he hid his smile. He understood perfectly well that the thing Natsu had won against was his own lack of confidence. This was a personal victory for Natsu, and definitely a step toward a full recovery.

Natsu curled into Gray like a cute pink kitten. The ice mage chuckled at such playful adorableness after fierce and erotic lovemaking. Really, this was a side to Natsu nobody saw. No one but him.

"Gray," Natsu yawned.

"Hmm?"

"I'm really happy now. This vacation was a good idea."

Gray sighed with relief and stroked his head tenderly. "I'm really glad," he whispered, and Gray kissed Natsu on the forehead. "Don't fall asleep yet."

"Nu-uh. Sweepy…" Natsu mumbled like a drowsy kid.

"At least you need to clean up."

"Don't wanna."

"Sheesh, what a baby!" Gray smirked to himself and leaned into Natsu's ear. "I really wanna take a shower with you."

That perked Natsu up instantly. "Really? You wanna?"

Gray laughed at the glittering eyes filled with innocent excitement. He tackled Natsu to the bed, pinned him down, and kissed him passionately.

"Yeah. I wanna."

Then he rolled off and extended his hand to the Dragon Slayer. Natsu grasped his chilly fingers, and Gray pulled him to get clean, leaving the chaotic mess behind.

**The End**


End file.
